Dream of Something Better
by Kokoa
Summary: He had no reason to own a living doll, when everyone had one. He had no interest in the Alice game tournament that everyone loves. But the living doll that dropped in on his life isn't the average living doll and her Alice Game is more than just a game...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters.

Introduction

'This is boring. Is this the best TV these days has to offer on a Saturday afternoon?'He thought to himself as he watched the two living dolls fight on the TV screen.

The Alice Game tournament was one of the most popular sporting events of the century and many people entered the winter and summer champion's trophy for each country. After two years the winners of the two summer and two winter tournaments from each country, would compete in a world tournament so that they would become world champion.

How the tournaments worked, was the leading living doll/medium pair from each area over the entire country entered in doll-to-doll combat, the loser being eliminated after defeat. Majority of the living dolls sometimes including the winner, get badly ruined when they get engaged in these battles. Not that many of the mediums care that much for their living doll, all they have to do is stand on the sidelines and shout commands at their doll.

'I've been watching these fights since I was a young boy. I probably got sick of watching this stuff after a while' he thought as he switched off the TV screen and went over to his desk to try to do some homework.

But his thoughts wondered back to the living dolls that he had seen on TV.

'I remember that when I was a kid, dolls were just inanimate girls play toys. But when I was about six or maybe seven, a company started selling dolls that could, supposedly 'live' and have 'personalities', based on the legendary Rozen Maiden dolls. The world went crazy for them and after a year or so; everyone seemed to have one, two or even more. Some people even had entire households full of these living dolls. Then, someone thought of 'Alice Game' tournaments using the dolls 'power' to fight against other dolls.

The only downside to having these living dolls is that after three years their 'Rosa Mystica', which was a white crystal inside a set of rose vines, would expire and the doll would stop moving. Unless, of course, you got them a new one. But, unfortunately, if you replace the Rosa Mystica, the doll would forget everything they had been taught by their master, and they needed to be re-trained.

The only dolls in existence that don't require new Mysticas and re-training are the original seven from the legendary Rozen Maiden series. However, Rozen Maidens are only a legend and no one knows if they really exist. But if someone did manage to find one, people would literally pay millions just to own it. It's not like the living dolls that do exist aren't already expensive enough.

You can buy them everywhere and there are countless shops selling their own series of living dolls that claim that theirs are 'better' than the others, but really they are all the same.'

He had been so lost in his thoughts about living dolls that he had forgotten all about his homework.

'Oh, well, I can leave that for tomorrow, I have all Sunday to get it done' he sighed as he closed his textbooks and booted his computer to see if any of the forums he had signed up on had any new posts.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Authors note:

I hope this wasn't too much info for you to take in! Please tell me if that confused you! And yep, you don't know much about the main character yet that was intended, so stay tuned for next chapter and you'll find out lots about him!


	2. Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters. However, I do own the character Rikou Daijima.

Chapter 2: Dreams

He was walking across a field, following a dirt path. The lantern he was holding was the only source of light he could see and the area around the path seemed to fade into the starless night. A light wind blew against him, but something urged him to keep walking against the wind, along the path.

But then he heard footsteps coming towards him. He could hear that the owner of the feet had some sort of footwear on, unlike himself, who was barefoot and was wearing his pyjamas.

The sound of the footsteps came closer and closer, and he had this strange feeling that whatever it was, was right in front of him.

'Wh-who's there? Show yourself!!' he yelled into the blackness in front of him, fear evident in his voice.

'My, my, such confidence' the voice of a girl sarcastically remarked. 'Anyway, I didn't come here for chitchat, so let me get to the point. Will you, or will you not wind?'

'Huh? I Where are you! Stop hiding!' he yelled, thrashing his arms around him at the darkness, the lantern flying around in his hand.

'I said, will you, or will you not wind' the girl that he could hear sounded annoyed.

'Stop hiding from me, I can't see you' he yelled again trying to grab at the direction the girl's voice was coming from.

'Will you or will you not wind' the girl's voice showed slight anger.

'Grrrr! I'm confused! Tell me where you are' he yelled.

'WILL YOU OR WILL YOU NOT WIND' the girl boomed angrily.

'Fine, I will wind if you really want me to, just tell me where you are' He yelled at the voice angrily.

The wind suddenly picked up and he was swept upwards by gale force winds. He screamed out loud.

He awoke from the horrible nightmare that he had just had.

'Thank god it was only a dream' he said aloud to himself.

'You have FINALLY awoken. Could you have taken any longer?'

The voice of that girl from his dream! He turned to see a living doll, who was slightly taller than the average model. She had silvery hair that reached the middle of her back and piercing cerise eyes. Her outfit was a white and blue-black gothic Victorian style dress and she wore a black headband with a small pink rose perched on top of it. But her most unusual feature was definitely the black wings that came out of her back. He had never seen anything like that on a normal model. She was sitting cross-legged on top of his desk.

'Don't stare, it's rude' the doll snapped at him. He realised that she must have noticed him examining her.

'Oh, er, sorry' he stammered.

She shrugged her shoulders. 'Such a pitiful human. '

She stared down at this human. He had brown eyes and blonde hair with a few centimetres of his root hair colour black. His hair was naturally spiked.

So, human, tell me your name.'

He continued to stare at her. There was something unusual about her that he couldn't put his finger on. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her chuckle at him.

'So, you don't know it? How stupid' she laughed at him.

'No, I mean, yes, I mean…'He cleared his throat. 'I'm Rikou Dajima.'

'Such a slow human' she said to herself. 'I am Suigintou, First of the Rozen Maiden series.'

Rikou started to laugh. Suigintou couldn't see what he was laughing at; there was nothing funny about her name.

'What's so funny' She asked him suspiciously.

'Well, you said you were a Rozen Maiden, right?' He asked, still laughing.

'Yes. Is there something wrong with that?' She asked him, still confused about what he was laughing at.

'Rozen Maidens don't exist; they are only part of a legend! You must be just some living doll.' He exclaimed. He crawled out of bed and walked towards her. When he reached her, he picked her up under her arms and held her up towards the ceiling to get a better look at her.

'Get your filthy human hands off me' Suigintou yelled. Her right wing expanded and slammed him against the opposite wall.

She gently floated downwards until her two feet touched the floor.

'Just a living doll' Suigintou snapped at him. 'I am NOT 'just a living doll'. I am a Rozen Maiden. You use the phrase 'living doll' like it is a common term. Well, HOW MANY LIVING DOLLS HAVE YOU EVER SEEN?'

'I've seen millions' He replied, still dizzy from being slammed against the wall. 'Nearly everyone has one. Some crazy people even have more than one.'

'Nearly…everyone…has one?' Now she was really confused.

'You don't know about the living doll craze? He asked. 'Seriously, when were you made? They've been around for the last ten, or so, years!'

'When I was made is none of YOUR concern human' she snapped at him. 'Go back to sleep.'

'Huh?' Rikou was astounded by the order she had just given him. 'I'll only do what you stay if you stop calling me human!'

'GO TO SLEEP' Suigintou yelled at him.

He climbed back into bed and rolled over to face the wall, before falling to sleep. Suigintou watched as he fell to sleep almost instantly.

'Foolish human' she hissed under her breath.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

For people that have previously read the version on Mediaminer, you will notice that chapters 2 and 3 have been combined. I also plan on combining chapters 4 and 5. So, the version will be two chapter number's behind Media Miner, but the content is exactly the same. 


	3. Reflect

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden or any of its characters. However, I do own Rikou Daijima and Mirien Daijima.

Chapter 3

The next morning, Suigintou was sitting on the ledge of the window in the human's room. She couldn't believe what see was seeing. That human had been correct. There were living dolls everywhere and there wasn't a person in sight that wasn't holding one or talking to one.

'At least that explains why he laughed at me when I told him I was a Rozen Maiden' Suigintou sighed.

She stood up on the window ledge and took flight, flying down the streets of that city.

'They're everywhere…' she said to herself, floating down to sit on top of a lamp post on the side of the main square.

'But, I've got more important things to worry over, than stupid amateur dolls' she thought to herself. 'The last Alice Game era ended…how long ago was that? I don't even remember what happened in the end…Obviously Alice wasn't born, or I wouldn't be here.'

----Flash back----

'Suigintou, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! I thought that you did it, I didn't know that it was actually Kirakishou!' Shinku pleaded. Her dress was cut, her bonnet was missing, and one of her pig-tails had come undone.

'So you automatically accuse me of everything that goes wrong? That's so NICE of you!' Suigintou yelled at Shinku. Her dress was just as badly damaged as Shinku's and her hair piece was missing too.

'Please, you're hurt, let me help you' Shinku said softly, leaning over to touch Suigintou's shoulder.

'DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME' Suigintou fumed, pushing Shinku away from her. 'And you…' She pointed her wing at Kirakishou who had been standing, quietly observing the scene. 'THIS WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG!!! YOU ARE JUST LUCKY THAT SHINKU IS SO STUPID, THAT SHE ACTUALLY FALL FOR YOUR TRICK!!!

Suigintou flew into the air and wings expanded until they filled the whole room. She let out a burst of black power and a hurricane-like wind picked up and Kirakishou struggled to stand up in the hurricane.

Shinku put up a block of pink rose petals as a wind break. 'Suigintou, stop! You're going to kill yourself if you continue like this!'

'I don't care, I don't have anything left to live for…' she thought to herself, tears welled up in her eyes.

Suigintou screamed and let out a huge wind block that expanded and pushed everything against the already broken walls. She had used up the last of her energy. She fell from the height that she had flown to, and slammed against the floor, forming a large circular ditch around where she had fallen.

Her sight went blurry and she could hear someone calling her name as she died.

'Suigintou…Suigintou…'

----End of flashback----

'But…what happened after that?'She wondered. Suigintou had been so immersed in her thoughts that she had not noticed a small crowd that had gathered around her light post.

'Whoa, is that a living doll?'

'I've never seen one with moving wings on it before…'

'It must be a new model'

'Does it have a medium yet?'

The crowd talked about her like she was just an object. Humans were truly stupid.

The crowd gasped as she stood up and took flight, flying down the streets, displeased that the crowd was following her. She gained speed and flew as fast as she could, in her attempt to get as far away from these people as she could.

Suigintou stopped when she spotted the idiot human's apartment window that she flown from earlier that morning. She flew through the window and drew the royal blue curtains, so that no one could see her.

The room was plunged into darkness. She sat on the human's bed, head against the wall next to the window.

She could hear the sounds of the crowd going past yelling 'where did it go?' and 'did it go this way?'

As the crowd passed, Suigintou sighed. Looking around the dark room, she could see a desk with a computer on it, a wardrobe, a small coffee table near the desk that was littered with various objects and a set of drawers near the door that had a small T.V on it and was littered with even more various objects. Nothing that even vaguely interested her.

She walked over to the door and pulled twisted the handle with her wing. She walked out of the door to find herself at the end of a hallway with four doors to her right, but none to her left and there was a door right at the end of the hallway.

The closet door to Rikou's room had a sign on it that said 'MIRIEN'S ROOM, DO NOT ENTER OR ELSE' written in big letters across it.

'Obviously his sister' Suigintou said to herself.

She walked towards the next door and pulled it open with her wing, only to find that the stupid human was in that room, cooking something for himself to eat. The room itself looked like some sort of a kitchen, with various cooking appliances sitting upon the cupboards and a small fridge in the corner of the room.

He looked at her with surprise and said 'Oh? You're here again?'

'I had to, there were crazy people chasing me' Suigintou said in an unhappy tone she flew upwards and sat on one of the cupboards.

'I wouldn't be surprised' he replied. 'The people all around the world are crazy for living dolls and if you go flying around, people are gonna think that you're a newer model. You see, even though some living dolls have wings on them, they are only for decoration; no one actually knows how to make a living doll fly yet.'

'I see…'Suigintou looked directly at Rikou. 'If supposedly 'everyone' has one of those amateur, living dolls, then why don't you have one?'

'Well, I've never really had a need for one, that's all. I think that they're a waste of money' He said. 'My parents went crazy for them as soon as they came out, to the extent where they began to neglect myself and my little sister, Mirien. So, my parents were delighted to learn that I'd been accepted into a school halfway across the country and they paid the board for Mirien and I to live here. They pay for everything that Mirien and I need here, just so that they can have more room at their house for those living dolls. That's also why I know so much about them, although I don't actually have one.'

They were silent for a few seconds before Rikou decided to break the silence.

'Last night…you said you were one of those 'Rozen Maidens' from the legend' Rikou said, turning towards Suigintou. 'Can you prove it?'

'I know absolutely nothing about these amateur dolls, so I don't know what differences there are' Suigintou told him. 'Apart from the fact that I can fly and they can't.'

'Follow me then, I'll show you something that's on TV that has lots of info about the living dolls on it' He beckoned her to follow him.

He led her to his room and switched on the TV. Grabbing the remote, he started flicking through the channels. When he found what he was looking for, he handed the remote to her.

'Here. This is called the Alice Game tournament' He said to her. 'There are lots of facts and figures in there, so you should be able to pick up a difference.'

He walked away, closing the door behind him as he left the room, giving her no time to argue back.


	4. Explaining the Alice Game

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima and Anira Hanagami.

Chapter 4: Explaining the Alice Game

When Rikou came back into his room about 5 hours later, after going shopping with Mirien to buy more groceries, he found Suigintou sitting on top of the black desk chair, which had been pulled over to the set of drawers with T.V. on it. She was STILL watching the Alice Game tournament on T.V.

'I thought she would have turned that off, considering what sort of personality I think that she has.' He thought to himself, as he watched her concentrating on the T.V. set.

'So, does this sort of thing interest you?' He asked her, trying to start a friendly conversation with her. Suigintou had always seemed very aggressive when Rikou had talked to her.

'How dare those amateurs insult Father's sacred game' Suigintou hissed under her breath, but only loud enough for herself to hear.

'Could you repeat that? I can't hear what you're saying' Rikou asked. He had thought that she had said something about him, and that was the reason why she had said it only loud enough for herself.

'Nothing' Suigintou dully said.

He sat beside the chair, on the floor and watched the T.V. with her, so he could try and figure out what she was concentrated on. She was watching one of the intervals between the games, although he couldn't figure out which one, since there are 6 games per day and 5 intervals in-between.

There was a singer performing. The singer had blonde, wavy hair that reached the middle of her back and two bangs that framed her face nicely. Her eyes were blue and she was wearing a blue top and skirt. She was singing a techno/pop ballad and dancing around on the stage.

'Do you like her songs? Her name is Anira Hanagami. She is very popular right now' He told Suigintou, although, personally, he could not stand her songs.

'I hate them' she grumbled.

'At least I'm not the only one around here who hates her songs' he thought to himself. 'So, have you found any differences yet?' he asked her.

'Human, how do the amateurs sign a mediums contract?' Suigintou asked him.

'Well, you get given a silver ring when you buy a living doll and if you own more than one, the rings merge together somehow, but I have no idea how that works' he told her. 'But if their Rosa Mystica expires, then the ring disappears and you get another one with the replacement Mystica.'

'Each Rozen Maiden has a gold ring, that has much more detail than the silver ones, on her left hand, and to sign a contract you have to kiss her ring.' Suigintou said quietly. 'You said something about their Rosa Mystica's expiring…'

'Yea, after three years the Mystica's expire and the owner either throws the doll away or gets the Mystica replaced' He told her.

'My Rosa Mystica never expires, and I only go to sleep if I get defeated by one of my sisters in the Alice Game and she takes it away.' Suigintou quietly said.

'Sisters? Dolls don't have sisters!' he laughed. 'And anyway, to defeated someone in the Alice Game, they have to be deemed 'unable to battle' you don't have to kill them or take their Mystica away.'

Suigintou suddenly jumped up on the chair and turned the T.V. off.

'My Alice Game is different to that weak imitation' Suigintou said in a serious tone. 'I fight my sisters for their Rosa Mystica's in the Alice Game. The winner keeps the Rosa Mystica. If I win, and collect the Rosa Mystica's of my six sisters, then I become Alice, who is a human of ultimate perfection, father's ideal daughter… But if I lose, I either stop moving and become a normal doll, or I become…'

Suigintou still refused to say the 'J' word, although she had been given a torso after the battle with Barasuishou. That word brought back bad memories for her.

'But, father told…one of my younger sisters during the last Alice Game era, that there is another way to seek Alice, without using the Alice Game 'she continued. When she looked over and saw Rikou giving her a very confused look, she added 'An Alice Game era is a period of time when majority of the Rozen Maidens are awake and we can participate in the Alice Game'.

Then she thought to herself 'And I have no idea how the last era ended.'

'I kind of understand that' Rikou said, although Suigintou could tell he was still confused.

Rikou turned towards the door and opened it. 'I'm going to go make dinner for Mirien and myself, so call out if you want some.'

'I don't' she mumbled as he left and shut the door.

Suigintou floated from the chair over to his bed and sat on it. She began to think about the pop star she saw on T.V. earlier.

'That girl…what did the idiot say her name was? Anira? If what the stupid human says is true, about the silver rings…Then why does she have a gold medium's ring? It looks exactly like a Rozen Maiden's medium's ring, and they are impossible to replicate…I will have to find out where she lives, so that I can pay her a visit…


	5. Better Than Average

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 5

Suigintou sat on a green, plastic chair, and watched as crowds of people passed by.

It was Friday afternoon the following week and Anira Hanagami had been scheduled to perform in one of the intervals during the Alice Game tournament at this very stadium. In about an hour, Anira was going to perform on the stage and come off using this exit. Suigintou's plan was to follow her home or to where ever she was staying for the night.

Of course, no one noticed Suigintou as she had put an invisible guard around her chair, which also prevented anyone from sitting on her.

'What am I supposed to do until then?' She wondered. She was just about to drown in her absolute boredom when she heard a voice.

'Hi there, how are you!' the energetic voice said.

She turned to the doll sitting next to her and let out a small shriek. This doll looked exactly like Barasuishou! She had the same lavender hair with two purple jewel hair ties separating two clumps of hair from the rest and she had golden eyes. However, she was wearing no eye patch and completely different clothing.

The outfit she was wearing consisted of a blue, long sleeved top and a brown, sleeveless, over jacket that finished where her torso started and was done up by a single button at the top. She wore a brown skirt that finished just above her knee with blue leggings underneath. She had brown boots that ended in between her knee and her ankle.

Noticing that Suigintou was just staring at her, the Barasuishou-lookalike sat down on the green plastic chair next to her. She looked at Suigintou with great curiosity before asking her 'What are you staring at?'

Suigintou took another look at the Barasuishou -lookalike. Her voice sounded like a happier and a lot more hyper version of Barasuishou's. She may have looked and sounded like Barasuishou, but she did not act like her at all.

'You are not supposed to be able to see me' Suigintou told the Barasuishou-lookalike. 'I have put an invisible guard around myself'.

'I can see through any form of invisibility.' She happily told Suigintou. 'It's one of my abilities. So, can you tell me why you were staring at me earlier?'

'You…look like someone I used to know' Suigintou said dully.

'Well I might be, you see, I was second hand!' She chirped happily. 'And now, thanks to my medium's training skills, I'm in the top 100 in the country! I'm a lot better than most average, second hand dolls.'

'Oh…OK then' Suigintou mumbled.

'You must think I'm so weird, chatting away to you and you don't even know my name! I'm Joenna! What's your name?

'…Suigintou' She mumbled.

'Suigintou is such a pretty name! My medium named me 'cause I didn't have one' Joenna replied. 'Wow, you have wings! Wings look so pretty, it's a shame no one can fly with them.'

'Not that you know of' Suigintou thought to herself.

'So, what are you here for?'Joenna. 'I'm here because my match is next after this interval has finished.'

'I…came to watch' Suigintou lied.

'Why aren't you in the audience if you came to watch?' Joenna asked her.

'Because…the view is better from down here' Suigintou lied again.

'Hmmm… I guess so…' Joenna replied. 'Where is your medium? Are they here with you?

'I don't have a…I mean, I don't have a…medium here.' Suigintou stuttered.

'Oh, that's a shame!' Joenna happily replied.

Joenna stared at Suigintou for a few seconds. 'I've never SEEN a doll like you. Who made you?'

'I…was made by…'Suigintou stuttered. Suigintou decided to lie again. 'I have no clue.'

As soon as Suigintou had said that, a brown haired boy ran up to Joenna.

'Joenna, the interval is nearly over! You have to go and get ready' the boy said to Joenna. He grabbed her hand and pulled her off the seat.

'I'll probably never see you again, but it was nice meeting you!' Joenna called out to Suigintou as she turned to walk away.


	6. Anira

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 6

Suigintou noticed that many people were staring at her, but then they returned to whatever they had been doing before. She realised that those people had probably seen Joenna yelling at absolutely nothing, as Suigintou was invisible and only Joenna could see her.

'That Barasuishou-clone almost blew my cover' Suigintou said to herself.

Then, the people nearby started to clap and cheer. Suigintou knew that Anira Hanagami had made her exit and was walking down the tunnel that Suigintou was in. Suigintou stood up on the green chair.

Anira passed, saying things such as 'thank you' and 'you're welcome', at all the comments she was receiving. Suigintou took flight, flying over the crowd and following Anira closely.

Anira then entered the dressing room. Suigintou flew inside when Anira opened the door and sat herself on the shelf with the mirror behind it. Anira dressed herself in a pink coloured tank top and blue coloured track pants.

Anira walked over to the mirror and sat down on the chair in front of it.

'Whew, what a night!' Anira said to herself, unaware that Suigintou could hear her talking.

Anira gripped her hair and began to loosen it, before it came off completely. It was only a wig! Her real hair was the same shade of blonde and it was still wavy, but her hair was a lot shorter now, finishing at the bottom of her shoulder blade.

Anira shoved the wig into her handbag and began to wash the makeup off her face. She leaned over to grab a towel to dry her face and instead her hand gripped the invisible Suigintou.

Anira shrieked and threw Suigintou into the air. Suigintou quickly steadied herself from being thrown and floated back onto the shelf. Knowing that she had been discovered, she gave Anira to have the ability to see her.

Anira instantly crawled to the other side of the room when Suigintou emerged.

'Wh-what are you?' She said, fear shaking her voice. 'Wh-what have you c-come here for?'

'I am Suigintou, the first Rozen Maiden' Suigintou declared.

Anira sighed a breath of relief. 'I thought you were some sort of Shinigami or something.'

The fact that Anira had been relieved to find out she was only a Rozen Maiden, was proof that she knew about them and was probably a medium of one.

'I want to know something from you' Suigintou said in a serious tone. 'You are a medium are you not? Your ring is proof of it.'

'Yes, yes' Anira said, and it was obvious that she had not paid any attention to what Suigintou had said.

'And I would like you to tell me which Rozen Maiden you are a medium of' Suigintou continued.

Anira began to hum one of her songs as she fiddled with one of her earrings in the mirror.

Suigintou leapt at Anira and pinned her to the wall. She summoned her sword and pointed it threateningly at Anira.

'TELL ME WHICH SISTER YOU ARE A MEDIUM OF' Suigintou yelled.

'In a minute' Anira calmly replied, gently pushing Suigintou off her. 'I need to be home before 5, so I can cook dinner.' She turned and walked out the door.

Suigintou dematerialized her sword. 'What a stupid human' she thought, before flying through the door as it closed.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

A Shinigami is a spirit of death.


	7. A Deal Is Made

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/Rina A. Gamihana and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 7

'You know, you don't have to follow me all the way home, you must have something better to do' Anira said nervously to the darkly dressed, flying doll that was invisible to everyone except Anira.

'I have no choice' Suigintou said bluntly. 'Since you refuse to tell me which one of my sister's you are a medium of, I need to find out for myself.'

'Why is it so urgent for you to see your sisters?'Anira asked her. 'Your Mystica doesn't expire, so you have all the time in the world to find them. What's the rush?'

'None of YOUR business' Suigintou replied.

It was 4:00pm, and Anira was walking down the main street, with Suigintou was floating along beside her. The cities people hurried around, doing their daily tasks and cars never seemed to stop streaming by.

But Suigintou took no notice of the bustle around her. All she could think about was following Anira, and how she would react, depending on which maiden Anira was a medium to.

'If it was Hina Ichigo or Kanaria…those two are just childish fools' Suigintou thought to herself.

'If it was Suiseseki, then she might try to accuse me of something suspicious and shoo me out. I did kill her twin in the last Alice Game era, after all. Souseseki may even try to cut me down with those shears of hers. If it is Kirakishou, then she'll probably try to capture and torture me. If it is Shinku…God help me if it is Shinku…'

Anira noticed that Suigintou was lost in her thoughts, and tried to engage in a conversation with her.

'You know, my name isn't actually Anira' she said. 'Anira is just my fame-name. My real name is Rina A. Gamihana. That way, because I wear the wig, I am anonymous in public.'

'You're so willing to talk about yourself, and yet you won't even tell me about who you are a medium of' Suigintou mumbled.

'Fine then, let's talk about you' Rina said confidently. 'Where does the name 'Suigintou' come from? I have never heard of anyone with your name before.'

'Do not ever ask me that question again' Suigintou muttered. 'Do not EVER ASK ME THAT QUESTION AGAIN, IS THAT CLEAR?' Suigintou grabbed Rina by the collar, and slammed her against a pole.

'Oh...OK' Rina said nervously. Obviously, there had been more to the seemingly innocent question then Rina had thought.

Suigintou released Rina from her grip, and they continued the rest of the walk to Rina's home in silence.

Once at the front door, being under Suigintou's cold gaze, Rina fumbled trying to find the key to the door, something that usually would have been second nature. Once finding the right key, Rina unlocked the door and allowed both herself and Suigintou inside.

'Okay, I'm going to be making dinner, so you just go and find them, they should be upstairs' Anira blubbered before disappearing into the kitchen.

'That foolish human is more stupid than the idiotic boy I have to live with' Suigintou sighed.

She floated down the hallway and stopped to sit on the bottom of the stair railing.

'There's no noise coming from upstairs…' Suigintou thought to herself, before slowly floating up the stairwell and into the upstairs hall.

'Errr… Rina said she would be home by now! She can't be this late!'A high pitched voice said in annoyance.

Suigintou walked towards the closed door, recognising the voice of her sister…

'Don't worry yourself, she should be here soon' another voice, lower than the first, said in an attempt to calm her sister down.

'So, she may be the medium of two…'Suigintou thought. 'Well, there's no use hiding myself, or they might think I'm up to something…'

Suigintou opened the door with her wing and slowly pushed it open.

'Suigintou…' an astonished looking Suiseseki whispered. 'SUIGINTOU! What are you planning this time desu! I won't fall for any of your tricks desu!'

Suigintou hadn't even said anything and she was already being blamed for causing anarchy.

'Reputations can be annoying in these sorts of circumstances…' She thought before saying 'Rest assured I did not come…'

Suigintou didn't get to finish her sentence, as a huge tree had just burst from the floor and wrapped itself tightly around Suigintou, restricting the movement of her wings, so she could not get free. Suiseseki stood on the ground holding her watering can.

Suigintou turned to the other sister present in the room and shouted 'Souseseki, can you please try to restrain your twin!'

'Suiseseki does not need restraining' Souseseki said calmly. 'YOU are the one who always needs restraining.'

'Can I please speak with you?' Suigintou asked, annoyance and rage evident in her voice.

Souseseki looked up at her eldest sister. She realised that Suigintou was about to lose her temper, and an annoyed, angered Suigintou would not be a good thing to face as the night drew near.

'Suiseseki, release her and we'll hear what she has to say' Souseseki ordered.

'But Souseseki…'

Souseseki stared blankly at Suiseseki.

'Fine, fine, fine desu' Suiseseki replied. 'But if she even tries to do anything suspicious, I'll see the end of her desu!'

The plant suddenly vanished and Suigintou fell with a 'Thud' onto the floor. The room had been completely restored, and there was no hole in the floor where the plant had once been.

'Well, at least Souseseki has SOME sense' Suigintou thought as she floated over to the desk chair and sat on it, crossing her legs over.

'Sit' she said, gesturing to the bed in front of the chair.

Souseseki sat down first, and stared at Suiseseki, wondering why she hadn't sat yet.

'O-okay then desu' Suiseseki stammered. 'But I'm only doing it because Souseseki is so persistent on doing so desu. '

Suigintou tried not to laugh. 'Souseseki isn't being persistent. Suiseseki is just being stubborn' she thought to herself.

'I can see that I am bothering you, so I will get straight to the point' Suigintou said. 'The last Alice Game era ended, I'm sure you know that much and I know that you two both died before I did. Souseseki was killed by my own hand…'

Suigintou felt Suiseseki staring intensely at her after that sentence, but she continued.

'But I still have yet to know how you died, Suiseseki' Suigintou told her. 'All I know of your death, is that Kirakishou somehow tricked Shinku into thinking I had killed you and Kanaria.'

'So why do you have to know that desu?' Suiseseki asked. 'You don't need details about my death desu! You're just here to mock me, aren't' you desu!

'I died before the last Alice Game Era ended, so I need every piece of information I can find' Suigintou stated.

Suiseseki would not agree to something that only Suigintou would gain profit out of. Suigintou sighed.

'If you tell me how you died, then I will tell you what happened afterwards up to my death.

If I find out anything important after I leave here, I will contact you straight away, and if you two find out anything important, then you will contact me.

If we figure out how the last Alice Game era ended, then we may be able to find out why we are alive in this era and if Alice was created or not in the last era. Is it a Deal?'

'Never shall I...'Suiseseki began.

'It sounds good to me' Souseseki cut Suiseseki off, to her amazement. 'But…how do we know that you can be trusted?'

'I'm willing to give up my Rosa Mystica without a fight, IF I betray you' Suigintou stated.

'Do you swear on your rose ring that you will keep your promise?'

'Yes' Suigintou said, as her ring started to glow a faint purple, but then faded after a few seconds.

'…fine then, I am willing to accept your deal' Souseseki said blankly. 'Suiseseki, do you want to tell Suigintou how you died?'

'O-okay desu'


	8. Memories of a Time Once Been

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 8

'We-well desu' Suiseseki began, trying to avoid eye contact with Suigintou. 'It happened not long after Kanaria's death desu…

----Flash back----

Suiseseki walked down the stairs of the Sakurada residence. Only two days previous, Shinku and Suiseseki had found out about Kanaria's death. Pizzicato had visited Shinku in a last attempt to save Kanaria, but by then it was too late.

The brunette stopped in front of the door that lead to the Sakurada's living room/dining area. She slowly opened it and saw Shinku sipping her tea, in a very melancholy-like manner, at the table.

'Shinku has been acting very strangely lately desu' Suiseseki thought to herself. 'It's probably about Kanaria's death desu. But why is she acting so upset over Kanaria's death desu? I was closer to Souseseki, then Shinku was to Kanaria, and she's acting even worse than I did desu. '

Suiseseki walked through the open door and sat herself opposite to Shinku at the table. Suiseseki rested her head in her hands and stared at Shinku.

'Has Kanaria's death gotten to you desu?' Suiseseki asked Shinku.

'Not in…I mean, Kanaria's death was certainly a sad occasion, but…' Shinku sighed and took a sip from her tea.

'Is there something else desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'…There is' Shinku told her. 'I…I think you should know what I discovered when I went to the scene of Kanaria's death to collect her body.'

'Was something unusual there desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Not…unusual, maybe I should have expected it…' Shinku replied. 'I went to retrieve Kanaria's body, from the N-field where she was killed and…scattered everywhere were…'

'What was it desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Black…feathers' Shinku answered her.

Suiseseki wasn't shocked at all when Shinku told her this.

'After all, if Suigintou can murder… Souseseki, then she can certainly kill someone like Kanaria desu' Suiseseki thought to herself.

'And…'Shinku continued, fighting back her tears. 'The wounds that Kanaria had…were…were…typical of Suigintou. Puncture marks from the feathers… Deep cuts from her sword… Markings from where…she had…she had strangled Kanaria with her wings…'

It was obvious to Suiseseki that Shinku was trying very hard not to cry.

'Do you want to go upstairs to rest desu?' Suiseseki offered Shinku.

Shinku simply nodded and disappeared up the stairs, being too tired to argue back.

'She puts way to much faith in Suigintou desu' Suiseseki said. 'But Suigintou is the one that killed Kanaria and I'm going to make sure that she never harms my sisters again desu!'

Suiseseki walked into the storeroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was trying very hard to contain her anger.

'First Souseseki…And now Kanaria…I'll…I'LL MAKE HER PAY DESU!!' Suiseseki yelled as she dashed through the mirror.

Suiseseki fell through the portal, into Suigintou's N-Field. Suigintou's N-field was as dark and gloomy, as it always had been. She looked around at the usual sight of the rundown buildings that made up her bleak ghost town. Mirror city still reigned in the place the sky should have been.

Finishing her inspection, Suiseseki yelled 'Suigintou, get out here right now desu!'

'I'm up here'

Suiseseki turned around and summoned her watering can. There was Suigintou, sitting cross-legged on the roof of a rundown building.

'There you are desu' Suiseseki yelled at Suigintou. 'Why did you kill Souseseki and Kanaria? GIVE ME A REASON DESU!!'

A tree burst from the ground of the N-Field, aimed directly at Suigintou. Suigintou flew to her left and dodged it, before unleashing a flurry of feathers. Suiseseki put a plant block around herself, so that no feathers could possibly get through.

Suigintou laughed. 'Scared are we…Suiseseki?'

Suigintou clicked her fingers and the plant block vanished from around Suiseseki. Suigintou then unleashed another round of feathers. Suiseseki leaned forward to grab her watering can, but she wasn't fast enough, and was cut by the oncoming feathers. She had only had time to close her eyes.

When Suiseseki opened her eyes, she saw that her dress, and the skin underneath, had been badly cut by the feathers. Only then did she realise that Suigintou had summoned her sword and was flying at full speed towards her.

Suiseseki stood up and grew another tree with her watering can. But Suigintou seemed to sense that the tree was coming, and she changed her direction while still in flight. Suiseseki smiled as the tree turned and followed Suigintou.

'What?' Suigintou hissed, as she flew all over the place, trying to get rid of the plant that was following her.

'While Suigintou is distracted…I need…to find the portal' Suiseseki thought as she started to run.

Suiseseki ran all over Suigintou's N-field to try and find the portal, but she couldn't. She stopped to catch her breath, constantly on the lookout for Suigintou. Only then did Suiseseki notice that it was quiet. Too quiet.

Suigintou then appeared from nowhere, sword in hand. She flew directly at Suiseseki. Suiseseki turned, so she could get away from her, but she suddenly collapsed. Suigintou slammed into Suiseseki, pinning her to the ground.

'Suigintou is strong…but…I don't ever remember her being this strong' Suiseseki thought, as Suigintou pressed her sword to Suiseseki's neck.

Suigintou giggled, as she raised her sword above her head, and then began to slash at Suiseseki's chest. Suiseseki screamed, as tears rolled down her face.

'Good bye, Suiseseki' Suigintou coldly said, as her wings began to expand and coil around Suiseseki's neck. And slowly, they began to constrict.

Suiseseki struggled to breathe but she then noticed that Suigintou's left eye began to glow a bright yellow, her eye revealing her state of insanity…and the true identity of the attacker.

'That…isn't…Sui…gin…tou'

And everything went black.

----End of flashback----

'That's all I remember from before I died desu' Suiseseki said, still trying to avoid Suigintou's eyes.

'I see...At least some things make more sense now…' Suigintou said deep in thought.

She took a deep breath and said 'I'm going to explain to you, what happened afterwards. You had BETTER listen, as I'm only going tell you this once.'

----Flashback----

Suigintou sat on the windowsill of her medium's hospital room. It was night time, and the traffic on the streets below had slowly died down. There were few, if any people walking around the streets at this hour.

'Kanaria is dead now. Maybe Shinku finally got annoyed with hearing her bratty, high pitched voice and did away with her.' Suigintou let out a small laugh at this thought.

'What's so funny, Angel-san?'

Suigintou had forgotten that Megu was still awake.

'I wasn't laughing at anything' Suigintou lied.

Suigintou and Megu spent a few moments in silence, before Megu began to speak.

'You have been spending a lot of time here lately, Suigintou' Megu said. 'Have you stopped fighting in that Alice Game?'

Suigintou stood up on the window ledge and glanced at her current medium. 'No…I just haven't had time to do any fighting, that's all.'

That was an utter lie. Suigintou had all the time in the world; she just preferred to stay in the company of her medium.

'So, Shinku and the others aren't fighting either?' Megu asked

Suigintou wasn't going to tell Megu that 'Shinku and the others' had become just 'Shinku and Suiseseki'. Those two definitely wouldn't fight. But then, there was the 7th, unknown sister. What was she like? Would she be eager to play the Alice Game, or would she refuse to fight, like Shinku did?

'I was wondering something Suigintou…your name…where does it come from?' Megu asked.

Suigintou eyes widened. That question…She hated that question… Her breathing became shaky. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before slowly turning to face Megu.

'Suigintou? Is something wrong? Don't you like your name?' Megu asked, beginning to get concerned about the way that her Angel was acting.

'Don't like it? I hate it. Hate it. HATE IT.' A voice in Suigintou's head screamed. She clamped both hands over her ears.

She then noticed the tears rolling down her face and she began to sniffle.

'Angel…'

She looked over to her medium. Megu began to slide out of bed, in order to comfort her Angel.

'No…no…don't touch me' Suigintou began inching backwards. 'Don't…no…just... JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!'

Suigintou took flight. 'Stu…Stupid human…how dare she…'

Megu lay back in her bed. Why would Suigintou hate her name? She thought it was really pretty.

An intruder watched this scene from inside the mirror on the wall.

'Oh Megu, you've upset Onee-Sama. I may have to…punish you for being a bad girl'

Suigintou returned at dawn, after she had spent many hours calming herself down. She flew to the windowsill and was instantly shocked at the sight before her.

Megu was gone. There were men in blue uniforms called 'police' paroling around the room, the door sealed off by some red tape. But that wasn't what shocked her.

Megu's bed was covered in dry blood, and there was a large blood stain on the floor. Majority of the blood was in the centre of the bed. Where her heart would have been…

She looked over to the policemen, who were talking with two adults, a couple it seemed.

'We are very sorry about your daughter's passing…It looks like she was strangled by some sort of prickly chord…'

Suigintou put her hand to her mouth, and her breathing became shaky, like it had been the night before when Megu had asked her…

She turned and flew out the window. She could distantly hear the sound of a male yelling, 'Hey, what was that at the window?'

Flying into the church, Suigintou sat on the altar with her head in her hands.

'Megu…Why? Who could possibly have a grudge against you? If I had stayed with you, maybe this would never have happened!' Suigintou sobbed.

She spent the day hiding in the church, sulking about Megu's death. That night she fell to sleep on the altar, not bothering to look for her case.

'Get up, Suigintou'

Suigintou had only slept for a few hours, and reluctantly opened her eyes to see Shinku standing before her. And she looked angry.

'Shinku. What do you want now?' Suigintou said, irritation obvious in her voice.

'You SHOULD know' Shinku replied. 'Your villainy has gone too far this time'

'What sort of gibberish are you spouting now, Shinku?' Suigintou said. 'Seriously, do you have to bother me about every trifling little thing that happens to you? I WAS asleep before.'

'Stop playing innocent, Suigintou. I know exactly what you did to my sisters, and you will not go unpunished for it.'

Before Suigintou could reply, Shinku ran up to the altar. She grabbed Suigintou's arm and flung her into a mirror nearby.

Suigintou landed in the N-field where she had battled Barasuishou for the last time, and Enju was exposed as a fraud. Except now it was night time in this N-field, and the stars twinkled overhead.

Suigintou suddenly felt many small, but sharp objects hitting her back. She turned and saw Shinku behind her, unleashing her rose petals. Suigintou tried to summon her sword, as more and more of the petals cut her dress and skin underneath.

'Why isn't my sword appearing?' Suigintou thought. She tried to move her wings, only to discover that she couldn't move them either.

'Why aren't any of my powers working?' She panicked, staring up at Shinku. Something seemed…different about her.

'Shinku…What is wrong with you?' Suigintou yelled. 'Aren't you the one who always tells us we shouldn't be fighting?'

Suigintou figured that if she couldn't use any of her powers, she might be able to talk her way out of this situation.

'Ironic you should be saying that, Suigintou' Shinku coldly stated. 'You should practise what you preach.'

'What are you talking about?' Suigintou yelled. 'I haven't done anything to you!'

Then a thought came into her head. 'What if she thinks that I killed Megu? After all, I have killed a few of my previous mediums before…'

'Shinku stop!' Suigintou yelled. 'Please, just listen to me!'

Shinku halted the rose petals aimed at Suigintou, and they gently floated to the ground. The moment the petals stopped, her legs gave out and she was on her knees. Her dress was horribly ruined, and there were many small cuts everywhere.

'Suigintou, I will listen to what you have to say, but if you try to beg for mercy…' Shinku threatened.

'I didn't kill her! Maybe she wouldn't have been killed if I hadn't left her, but I wasn't the one who killed her!' Suigintou pleaded.

'Suigintou…There is no point trying to deny it, all of the signs of your attack were there' Shinku stated, slowly walking towards Suigintou.

'W…What?' Suigintou stuttered. Signs? What in the world is she talking about?

'Shinku…I…I'm not following you…What exactly have I done?' She stuttered.

Shinku was standing right in front of Suigintou now.

'Suigintou…' Shinku said. She raised her hand and firmly slapped Suigintou's cheek.

'HOW DARE YOU! What you did was UNFORGIVABLE, to my sisters, to YOUR sisters. You don't deserve to have sisters; all you ever do is HURT US! Why? Why do you have to be so…so…?'

She picked up the front of Suigintou's dress and slammed her against the ground. Suigintou managed to push Shinku away from her.

'Shinku, I don't understand you. I haven't done anything to our sisters recently, that you could be mad at me for!' Suigintou yelled.

Suddenly, her wings came free from whatever spell they had been under, and they expanded to shoot knife-like feathers at Shinku. Shinku put up a pink shield to protect herself, but the feathers broke through it and they began to cut into Shinku.

Suigintou scattered black feathers around the sky of the N-field, blackening the already dark night sky. Shinku couldn't see much and had to strain her eyes to see what was around her.

Suigintou suddenly appeared from nowhere, and grabbed Shinku's shoulder. Suigintou began to summon her sword. Shinku saw this, grabbed the arm that Suigintou was summoning with and pulled it past her shoulder. Shinku then kicked Suigintou in the stomach, and her sword slipped out of her hand. Suigintou winced, her hands protecting her torso.

Shinku used this opportunity to grab Suigintou and throw her into the dome nearby. Suigintou crashed through the roof and landed on her back near the floor. She instantly sat up and looked around. It was the same dome hall where she had died, in her last battle with Barasuishou. Except now, the dome was almost, completely dark. The building had crumbled somewhat, probably because Enju and company weren't around to maintain it.

Shinku burst through the roof with Suigintou's sword and pinned Suigintou to the ground. Shinku pressed the sword to Suigintou's neck.

The lights suddenly came on, although it was still night time outside. Then Suigintou and Shinku heard the sound of someone clapping. A figure was walking down the same corridor, where Barasuishou had once been when she killed Suigintou.

The figure came into the light.

'B…Barasuishou?' Shinku gasped.

The doll did look like Barasuishou, except she was much paler. Her clothing was white, instead of purple and her hair was also white, instead of lavender. Her hair ornaments were white roses, instead of purple crystals. Her left eye was a rose, instead of having a rose eye patch over the right eye.

'Incorrect, Shinku' the white doll smiled. 'I thought you might get angry, but not THIS angry. And then you started beating up Onee-Sama, and I just can't let that happen can I?'

She cocked her head to one side. 'I know that the truth will hurt you MORE, which proves how WEAK you are!'

'Who are you?' Shinku asked, suspiciously.

'Well, you might as well know who I am, before I…'punish' you for hurting Onee-Sama' the white doll giggled. 'I am Kirakishou, and I am your 7th and youngest sister.'

'You said something about 'truth'. What do you mean by that?' Shinku asked.

'Because you've never met me before, I decided to take advantage of the fact that you don't know any of my abilities. So I began to attack you, from weakest to strongest…and here we are' Kirakishou said.

'But…the signs of Suigintou's attack were there…' Shinku began.

'Ah, like I said, you don't know any of my abilities' Kirakishou cut in. 'I attained both Rosa Mystica all on my own! Look!'

She proceeded to put her hand on her chest and pull out three Rosa Mystica. She pushed them back into her chest when she had finished showing them off.

Kirakishou smiled. 'So how do you feel now Shinku? You've just beaten up your sister for something she hasn't done!'

Shinku looked back down at Suigintou. Suigintou pushed Shinku away, and turned to face Kirakishou. Shinku was trying very hard not to look at Suigintou. Kirakishou began to giggle.

'You, SHUT UP!' Suigintou yelled.

Kirakishou stopped giggling and looked down at her feet.

'_Suigintou, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! I thought that you did it, I didn't know that it was actually Kirakishou!' Shinku pleaded. Her dress was cut, her bonnet was missing, and one of her pig-tails had come undone._

'_So you automatically accuse me of everything that goes wrong? That's so NICE of you!' Suigintou yelled at Shinku. Her dress was just as badly damaged as Shinku's and her hair piece was missing too._

'_Please, you're hurt, let me help you' Shinku said softly, leaning over to touch Suigintou's shoulder._

'_DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME' Suigintou fumed, pushing Shinku away from her. 'And you…' She pointed her wing at Kirakishou who had been standing, quietly observing the scene. 'THIS WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG!! YOU ARE JUST LUCKY THAT SHINKU IS SO STUPID, THAT SHE ACTUALLY FELL FOR YOUR TRICK!!_

_Suigintou flew into the air and wings expanded until they filled the whole room. She let out a burst of black power and a hurricane-like wind picked up and Kirakishou struggled to stand up in the hurricane._

_Shinku put up a block of pink rose petals as a wind break. 'Suigintou, stop! You're going to kill yourself if you continue like this!'_

'_I don't care, I don't have anything left to live for…' she thought to herself, tears welled up in her eyes._

_Suigintou screamed and let out a huge wind block that expanded and pushed everything against the already broken walls. She had used up the last of her energy. She fell from the height that she had flown to, and slammed against the floor, forming a large circular ditch around where she had fallen._

_Her sight went blurry and she could hear someone calling her name as she died._

'_Suigintou…Suigintou…'_

---- End of Flashback----

'I think that's it…' Suigintou said. 'Now I know that Kirakishou is a shape shifter, and she posed as me when she killed you.'

'But we still don't know whether Alice was created or not' Souseseki stated. 'But if Alice was created, either Shinku or Kirakishou would have used the alternate method, as we are powered by our Rosa Mystica and we are still alive.'

Suigintou began to think about what Souseseki had said, when she saw the clock hanging on the wall.

'It's 6:00 already!' She said. 'I better get going or idiot will be worried.'

'Idiot desu?' Suiseseki said, in a confused manner.

Suigintou sighed. 'The person I live with. He still doesn't completely believe that I'm a Rozen Maiden yet…'

'Rina was the same desu' Suiseseki told Suigintou. 'It took a lot of convincing to make her believe that we were Rozen Maidens desu. Have you seen all those fake dolls desu?'

'How could I not? They're everywhere!' Suigintou replied.

Suigintou floated over to the window and opened it.

'You will keep your promise, won't you?' Souseseki asked, suspiciously.

'You saw me swear upon my Rose Ring. You should know that those sorts of promises are the ones you can't break.'

A/N

Sorry for not updating in about 2 weeks! But I just didn't know where to cut this chapter, so I just wrote and wrote and wrote! Hope it wasn't too long…

For this fic only, I have added 'shape shifting' to the current list of Kirakishou's abilities, but in the real manga, she doesn't have this ability. That should make some nice plot twists, yes?

Remember this? It's from chapter 3.

I hope that it's not that out of character for Shinku to be THIS mad. But how would you feel if your sibling killed the rest of your family? And also, it's from Suigintou's point of view, so Shinku may have been a lot less mad than she was portrayed.

Thanks for reading!


	9. Morielta

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 9

Suigintou flew over the city, thinking about the things that she had discussed with the Gardener twins earlier. The city's traffic was slowly decreasing and it's steel grey buildings reflected the light of the sunset on the horizon.

She stopped to sit on top of one of the tallest sky scrapers, crossing her legs as she did so. Suigintou had played out the events of the previous era many times in her head during her flight, and had come to no conclusion about anything the three of them had discussed. She spent the next few minutes on the sky scraper, deep in thought.

'I remember that during my fight with Shinku, my powers stopped working. Shinku isn't that powerful, she couldn't have done that…But if she didn't then what did? Maybe it was Kirakishou? But I don't think even Kirakishou could have done that...'

Suigintou rested her head in her hands.

'Megu. I don't know who killed her. Shinku wouldn't have been capable of such a thing. Perhaps it was Kirakishou? I only know one of her abilities, which is shape shifting, and I'm quite sure she has others. Maybe Megu committed suicide? No, she wouldn't do that…I don't know where she would have gotten prickly cord from.'

For a moment, Suigintou stared up at the sunset. The sky was slowly darkening, in preparation for night-time.

'Suiseseki and Souseseki are still alive, so is it possible that our other sisters are alive too? Or just us? If Father only brought back the three of us, then why? Did he randomly pick us? Did he pick us for a particular reason? Did Father just feel sorry for us? Does he still want us to fight the Alice Game? Maybe he brought us back to life by mistake? If Alice was created from Kirakishou or Shinku, then it would have to have been a mistake. After all, he would have been happy with Alice, he wouldn't have cared about the ones who lost…'

Suigintou sighed as she continued to stare at the sunset. There were so many things that she couldn't figure out. She turned to her left, looking in the direction that Rikou's apartment was in.

She stood up and fluffed out her dress. 'Idiot…It's not like I have to return to him…'

'Good evening, Suigintou of Rozen'

Suigintou quickly turned to see a doll dressed entirely in black. She had black, wavy hair, put in a ponytail on top of her head and tied in a dark blue ribbon. She had a black top, with puffy sleeves and a black ruffle skirt, that parted at her left hip. She had a dark blue sash tied around her waist, and knee high black boots. It seemed that the only thing about her that wasn't dark, was her light brown eyes.

'Humph. It's a fake doll. Can't you leave me alone? I'm thinking about something important…'

Then it hit her. This doll knew her name, and that she was a Rozen Maiden.

'H…How do you know my name?' Suigintou asked the doll.

'My name is Morielta and I've been following you around for the past week and a half. Ever since you attracted attention at the market place, you've been every doll collectors dream' Morielta said.

She walked a few paces forward, towards Suigintou.

'No one has ever seen a doll that can fly before. Even the ones with wings can't fly. But yet you…You use your wings to fly everywhere' She added.

'So? Who cares if I'm the 'doll collector's dream'. I'm not interested in sitting on a shelf all day looking pretty.' Suigintou coldly replied.

'My master wants you for his own. He told me that 'if she doesn't come on her own, then use force to bring her here'. And since you refuse to come of your own free will…' Morielta began.

'I'll have to FORCE YOU to come with me!' She yelled determinedly.

Morielta summoned her weapon, which looked like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, except hers was completely black. The scythe was a head shorter than Morielta was, and the blade was slightly shorter than the base of the scythe.

Morielta ran forward and slashed at Suigintou, missing her only by a centimetre or two. Suigintou quickly spread her wings and flew up into the sky. She unleashed a round of sharp feathers, aimed directly at Morielta.

Morielta tried to slash at the feathers, but there were too many. The feathers cut into her outfit and her skin.

'She's stronger than I thought…I may need to borrow some power, master…' Morielta thought to herself.

Morielta began to draw power from her master, and she started to glow in a light black. Suigintou saw this, and realised that she was drawing power from her medium. Suigintou flew even further towards the almost black sky, with only a small amount of sunlight left on the horizon.

Morielta muttered words that Suigintou could not hear, and black sludge began to arise from the top of the building. The sludge then formed a spiral shape, as it continued to grow upwards. Suigintou started to fly higher, but the sludge caught up with her, and wrapped itself tightly around her right ankle.

Suigintou shot some carefully aimed feathers at it, but they got stuck on the sludge the moment they touched it. The sludge began to shrink, dragging Suigintou towards the top of the building…and towards the waiting Morielta.

As soon as Morielta was within reach of Suigintou, she quickly summoned her sword, and clashed her weapon with Morielta's scythe. Suigintou overpowered Morielta and flung her weapon to the side. Morielta quickly resummoned it, and before Suigintou could react, she sliced off half of Suigintou's right wing.

Suigintou screamed, as the pain from her wing began to sting. She tried to attack Morielta with her sword, but she merely stepped back and laughed, as she watched Suigintou's attempt to defend her self.

Suigintou was frustrated. 'If I could just get this black thing off my leg, then I would be able to defeat her.' She thought to herself.

Suigintou expanded her left wing, and turned it into a dragons head. Morielta saw this and ran to the edge of the building. Morielta jumped over to the sky scraper next to it, but the dragon's head continued to follow her.

Morielta turned around and held her scythe ahead of her. When the dragon's head got close enough, Morielta cut it off. Suigintou screamed again, tears forming in her eyes. Morielta continued to jump over to the sky scraper Suigintou was pinned to, and cut off the remainder of the expanded wing.

Morielta muttered something that Suigintou did not understand, and another spiral of sludge emerged from the original one. The black column circled around Suigintou's elbows. Suigintou tried to cut it with her sword but it was absorbed the moment the sword contacted it. The sludge tightened, pinning Suigintou's arms to her waist.

More and more sludge columns emerged from the original, and continued to tie Suigintou's hands together, her knees together and to gag her mouth.

Morielta laughed. 'Not so confident now, are we?'

She walked up to Suigintou and slid a finger under her chin. 'Now…I have to go collect the little dolls that I saw with you, so wait right here, until I come back. Okay?'

Suigintou's reply was muffled by the gag.

'Be a good girl now.' Morielta patted the top of Suigintou's head and laughed. She turned and leapt off the building, leaping across the neighbouring sky scrapers, until she was out of sight.

'Damn it…' Suigintou thought. 'What am I going to do…'

She struggled against the black sludge, but she couldn't get loose.

'My only hope is if my wings…' She thought.

Her wings were still in pain, from when they were cut, but still she tried to expand them. When she expanded them a little bit, a searing pain shot through her whole back. She winced.

'Damn, it hurts…' Suigintou thought to herself. 'I'll just have to bear it…'

She took a deep breath through her nose, and tried to expand them again. This time, they expanded even further than they did the first time. Her wings and back area began to feel absolutely painful, but she continued to push her wings further, and further outward.

Her wings slipped under the sludge binding her elbows and sliced upward. Her wings cut through her elbow bind and wrist bind, and now her arms were free. She moved her arms away from each other, before the sludge could rejoin. Suigintou did not notice the clouds overhead in the night sky.

She forced her wings further outwards and cut through the leg binds. The sludge began to bubble, and Suigintou knew that she had to get away from it. She still had the mouth gag, and traces of sludge on her dress.

She did not know if she could fly, as her wings had been in so much pain only moments ago. But still, she leapt off the tall building, desperately trying to stabilize herself in the air.

Then, Suigintou saw a large column of black sludge expanding at full speed towards her. Suigintou managed to steady herself in the air, and began to fly around the tall buildings. The black sludge followed her every movement.

Suigintou realized that she could not fly upward, as her wings were too weak, so she kept at the same height as she weaved around the buildings.

Then she heard the roar of thunder overhead, and she took a quick look at the grey clouds in the night sky, and continued flying. Then, she felt a raindrop fall onto her head. Then another. And before she knew it, it was raining.

That's when she noticed, that where a raindrop had fallen on the sludge on her dress, there was a small hole through the sludge, where her dress was visible. As the rain began to pour down on her, the sludge began to slide off her dress and skin and the mouth gag fell off. The column of sludge following her lost it's life and fell to the ground, creating a giant black puddle of filth on the ground.

Suigintou began to laugh. She hadn't been able to defeat the sludge monster, but a simple thing like rain had killed it almost instantly.

Staring at the ground, she noticed the sludge puddle had become more watery with the rain.

'I feel sorry for the people who have to clean that up.' She chuckled.

Then she remembered. Morielta had gone after Suiseseki and Souseseki!

'Well, there's no point having a deal with someone who's dead…' Suigintou muttered, as she turned and flew in the direction of Rina's house.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Do you really think we should trust her desu? After all, Suigintou has always been really horrid to us all desu.' Suiseseki asked her twin.

The twins had both finished dinner, and were home by themselves, as Rina had a concert on that night.

'I don't know Suiseseki…It is hard to believe. But she can't harm us, as she swore on her rose ring that she would co-operate with us or give up her Rosa Mystica.'

'I guess so desu.' Suiseseki shrugged. 'Hey…Souseseki?'

'What is it?' Souseseki asked.

'Do you think Suigintou is sad desu?' Suiseseki asked her.

'Why would Suigintou be sad? Shinku isn't around to agitate her and she's found a place to live with that 'idiot' she told us about' Souseseki replied.

'Her other medium was murdered desu. She said that she cried a lot after she found out. She seemed a bit unhappy when she was talking about her other medium desu.'

'I noticed that too. But everyone has something that happens to them that makes them feel sad and Suigintou is not exempt. Although she is cold hearted and has an uncontrollable temper, it doesn't mean that she wouldn't feel unhappy about something like that.'

'I know desu. But it's just hard to believe that someone like her would get upset over something like that desu. She must have really cared for that human.'

As soon as Suiseseki had said that, the glass from the window broke, revealing a doll dressed in black standing on the window sill.

'Good evening, Suiseseki and Souseseki of Rozen' the black doll said 'My name is Morielta'.

'How do you know our names desu?' Suiseseki yelled.

'I followed your eldest sister when she visited you.' Morielta laughed. 'I was surprised…not only had I found one Rozen Maiden, but she had unknowingly lead me to two others!'

'You followed Suigintou here!' Souseseki yelled. 'Why? You can't become Alice! You don't have a proper Rosa Mystica!'

'My master wanted Suigintou for his own, after he found out about her…but if I present him with not only one, but THREE Rozen Maidens, then I may get promoted!'

'Promoted?' Souseseki asked.

'None of your business' Morielta replied. 'If you're wondering what happened to your dear eldest sister…She's tied and gagged up the top of the commercial building. So…will you join your sister willingly, or will I have to fight you?'

'You'll have to fight us desu!' Suiseseki yelled, whipping out her watering can and making a tree grow out of the first storey, through to the second storey. The tree turned and grew towards Morielta. Morielta summoned her scythe and cut the tree as it came towards her.

She jumped through the broken window and ran towards Suiseseki. As Morielta swung her scythe at Suiseseki, her weapon clashed with Souseseki's shears.

'If you want to hurt my twin, you have to go through ME first.' Souseseki said, determinedly.

'Wasn't it you who once abandoned your twin for the dream of becoming Alice?' Morielta asked, in a mocking tone.

'I have learnt from my mistake, and I know now that Father would NOT want that!' Souseseki yelled, flinging the scythe away and pointing her shears at Morielta's neck.

Morielta smiled, and Souseseki heard a scream come from Suiseseki. She turned to see Suiseseki, fighting a vicious battle with some sort of…black muck?

Suiseseki was growing plants everywhere, twisting the trees around the sludge, but the sludge always broke through and continued to rip at her dress.

'Suiseseki!' Souseseki yelled, only to notice that Morielta had re-summoned her scythe, and was slashing at her with it. Souseseki quickly gripped her shears, and spared with Morielta.

Suiseseki was beginning to win with the sludge, and decided to help Souseseki. She made a tree grow where Morielta was, but Morielta stepped to the side and cut it down. Souseseki slashed at Morielta while she was distracted cutting down the tree, and her sash was cut in two.

'How…How dare you…'Morielta thought with rage.

She unleashed a large amount of black sludge at Souseseki, Souseseki tried to cut the sludge but her shears were absorbed by the sludge.

'What?' Souseseki gasped as the sludge tied her up and gagged her.

Morielta laughed. 'Two down, one to go…' she whispered to herself.

As she turned to face Suiseseki, a black feather shot past and sliced her cheek open.

'No…It can't be…' She turned to see Suigintou standing at the window, looking triumphant. Suigintou didn't have a trace of sludge on her, although she was drenched from head to toe.

'Suigintou desu' Suiseseki muttered.

'But, how? It's impossible to escape from the sludge.' Morielta yelled.

'Well…Lets just say, I had a bit of weather on my side.' Suigintou giggled.

'What?' Morielta yelled. 'Well, it doesn't matter, because I'll just re-capture you NOW!!'

She unleashed another column of sludge, but Suigintou curled up into a ball and put a shield of feathers around herself.

'The feather shield is very thick. Not even sludge can get through it!' Suigintou yelled through her shield.

'Damn her…' Morielta hissed, as she dodged a growing tree. 'Damn them all…'

Suigintou suddenly burst from her shield and flew down towards Morielta with her sword. Morielta was ready, and the two weapons clashed. A tree suddenly shot out of the ground where Morielta 

was, causing her to fall forwards. Her weapon slipped and her hand fell against Suigintou's before she was flung to one side.

Suigintou walked up to Morielta, and pointed her sword at Morielta's neck. Morielta raised her hand, but now there was a pink burn mark on it. Then she realised what Morielta's weakness was.

Suigintou wrapped her left wing around Morielta. She pinned Morielta's elbows to her waist and then turned to Suiseseki.

'Suiseseki, can you produce normal water from your watering can?' Suigintou yelled.

'I can, if I want to desu.' Suiseseki replied.

'Do that, and pour it all over her.' Suigintou yelled.

'What's the point of that desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Just DO IT!' Suigintou yelled back.

'O…Ok desu' Suiseseki mumbled.

Suiseseki lifted her watering can and it started to glow green. After it had stopped glowing, Suiseseki pointed the watering can at Morielta. Then, she began to spray Morielta with the water from her watering can.

'NO…NO…I BEG YOU PLEASE STOP! DON'T…Euh' Morielta moaned as the water began to soak through her clothing.

Suiseseki began to spray water all over the room, melting the sludge and unbinding Souseseki.

'That feels better' Souseseki remarked, stretching her arms after being freed from the sludge.

Suiseseki smiled, and then turned back to hose down Morielta.

'I'LL…I'LL GET YOU…ALL FOR…THIS…' Morielta yelled.

Then she began to fade away, and before the three Rozen Maiden's could react, she was gone.

'That was close' Souseseki said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Suigintou began to feel dizzy.

'I feel…lightheaded…I…'

Suigintou stumbled backward and she fainted.

'Ah…Ah…Souseseki, what do we do desu? Is she dead desu' Suiseseki asked, worriedly.

Souseseki kneeled over Suigintou and examined her. 'No, she just used to much power. I don't think that 'idiot' that she lives with is her medium.'

'What do we do with her desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'We have to clean up first…' Souseseki said with a sigh.

'No problem desu!' Suiseseki exclaimed.

She held up her ring and it glowed a bright green. The sludge puddles and trees disappeared and the bedroom furniture began to fix itself. When the room was back to normal, Suiseseki's ring stopped glowing.

'I don't think she'd like it if we kept her here…do you think we should return her to the 'idiot'?' Souseseki asked.

'Yeah, we should desu. She probably wouldn't like us fussing over her desu.' Suiseseki said. 'Now where did she say he lived again desu?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou had had a long week at school, and was looking forward to the weekend. It was 10 pm at night, and he was 'busy' browsing the internet for whatever he felt like. He could do his homework tomorrow.

As he finished browsing, something in the corner of the room caught his eye. Suigintou's case.

'I haven't seen her all day…I wonder where she is? Not that she'd tell me anyway, but…' Rikou sighed. He had had enough of browsing, and he exited the internet and shut the computer down.

As he walked over to his bed, he began to stare at the case again. Instead of sitting on the bed, he sat down beside the case, and looked at it.

'So…She sleeps in this thing every night…It looks pretty neat…' He thought to himself.

He reached out and touched it. 'It doesn't feel like something of bad quality…'

Suddenly, Rikou heard the sound of glass breaking. He turned quickly, to see that a doll case, identical to Suigintou's, had crashed through the window and landed on the floor.

The box lid flew open, revealing a doll with long, brown hair and wearing a green dress.

'You must be idiot desu! Please to meet you desu!' The doll exclaimed.

'Whoa, this doll has different coloured eyes…' Rikou thought to himself.

'You haven't said anything to respond to my polite greeting desu' the doll said in annoyance. 'You must really be an idiot like Suigintou says you are desu!'

'You know Suigintou?' Rikou said nervously.

'Of course desu' the doll exclaimed. 'She's my sister desu! I am Suiseseki, the third Rozen Maiden desu!'

'Another doll that claims to be a Rozen Maiden…as well as claiming to be Suigintou's sister ' Rikou thought.

'Living dolls don't have sisters, because they are batch produced!' Rikou told Suiseseki.

'ERRRRRRR…But I'm not a normal living doll desu! I'm a Rozen Maiden! You are really thick desu!' Suiseseki yelled.

'Anyway, Suigintou, Souseseki and I got into a fight and Suigintou passed out, so we're returning her to you desu.' Suiseseki said.

'If you're returning her…Then where is she?' Rikou asked.

'Souseseki took Suigintou with her, because she reckons that I speed desu!' I don't speed desu! She's just jealous because I go faster than her desu!' Suiseseki ranted.

'I see…'Rikou said nervously.

Then, another case came through the broken window, smashing the glass that still remained. The case landed on the ground next to Suiseseki's. The lid came open, revealing a doll dressed in blue with short, redy-brown hair. Suigintou had been forced into a sitting position, and was leaning against the other doll.

'Sorry to intrude…Has Suiseseki told you who I am?' the doll asked.

Rikou thought about it for a few seconds. 'Are you…Souseseki?'

'Yes, I am Souseseki, the fourth Rozen Maiden and Suiseseki's twin.' Souseseki said. 'Well…Suigintou passed out when we were fighting another living doll and she's here.'

Rikou took a closer look at Suigintou. She looked like she was sleeping.

'What's wrong with her?' Rikou asked.

'She just passed out from using too much energy in the human world.' Souseseki replied.

Seeing that Rikou looked confused, Suiseseki added 'Rozen Maidens are only supposed to fight in N-fields desu! If we use to much power in the human world then we get tired desu!'

'Then why haven't you fainted? Suiseseki said that both of you were fighting as well.' Rikou asked.

'We have a medium. Suigintou doesn't.' Souseseki stated.

'It makes that much difference?' Rikou asked.

'Yes. A medium can supply more power to you, but it is up to the individual Rozen Maiden how much of it they use.' Souseseki told him.

'You really are thick and stupid desu!' Suiseseki said.

'Why do all these dolls that claim to be Rozen Maiden think I'm really stupid?' Rikou thought with a sigh.

Rikou stood up and walked over to Souseseki's case. He picked up Suigintou and started to carry her over to his bed.

'You better look after her desu! Or you'll be sorry desu!' Suiseseki shouted.

'I will…If she lets me…' Rikou said as he lay Suigintou on top of his bed.

He noticed it was really cold and remembered that the window was broken.

'Could you…umm…do something about the window?' Rikou asked Suiseseki and Souseseki.

'We could do that...' Souseseki replied. She held up her ring and it began to glow a light blue.

The shards of glass that were scattered everywhere began to fly back towards the window. Within a few seconds, the window was fixed and there was no glass anywhere.

'Umm…Thank you' Rikou said, still confused about what had just happened with the window.

'Can you open up the window again, so we can get home?' Souseseki asked.

'Sure' Rikou replied, as he opened the window properly.

'We'll probably be visiting again desu, so clean up your room desu!' Suiseseki yelled.

The two dolls flew out the window in their cases, and soon they were both out of sight.

'Strange pair' Rikou said to himself, as he closed the window. He looked around his room. 'Does my room really look that messy?'

As his eyes wondered around the room, he began to stare at Suigintou, who obviously hadn't moved since he had put her on the bed.

'I wonder what sort of fight she got into? She doesn't look damaged…' He mumbled

Then Rikou began to think about the things that the twins had said. Were they really Rozen Maidens? Were they more than 'just a legend'?

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

Yet again another long chapter! I'm going to bed now desu, so chapter 10 will be up in the morning -Yawns-


	10. Scylla

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta and the personality of Joenna.

Chapter 10

A 15 year old girl walked into the hall of the apartment building that she lived in. She had just finished her morning wake-up-routine and was ready for a long day of doing nothing.

The girl in question had dark brown eyes, and had various shades of blonde streaked throughout her terracotta brown curly hair. Her hair was pulled into two pigtails, on either side of her head. She was wearing a pink tank top and jeans. She was quite short for her age, but her tempered personality made up for her height.

'It's 10 O'clock in the morning and Rikou isn't up yet…time to give him a wake up call from hell!' She said to herself, as she stared at the door to her brother's room.

She opened the door to his room and found him sleeping on the floor next to his bed. Noticing that there was something else in the bed, she stepped over Rikou and sat on her knees next to the bed. She couldn't see what was in the bed, as it was covered in blankets.

'It better not be an animal…Is it a living doll? That would be even worse than an animal! I hate living dolls, whoever invented them is an idiot!' She thought to herself.

She grabbed the corner of the bottom blanket and pulled it off. Lying in the bed was a living doll, with black wings on her back. The living doll flinched in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.

'What a weird colour for eyes…Is that a red or a purple?' She thought, as the doll yawned and sat up.

The doll and the girl stared at each other for a few seconds.

The girl turned to Rikou, who was still asleep on the floor and kicked him in the stomach. 'WHY IS THERE A LIVING DOLL IN HERE? YOU KNOW I HATE THEM, GET RID OF IT!'

'I can't get rid of her, she keeps following me…' Rikou said, clutching his stomach from being kicked. 'By the way, that is Suigintou and she is a Rozen Maiden. Suigintou, this is Mirien, she is my sister.'

'How dare you talk about me like I am a lower being!' Suigintou yelled at Mirien, the two of them not noticing that Rikou had said anything at all.

'I am yelling at you like a lower being CAUSE YOU ARE A LOWER BEING!' Mirien yelled back. 'Go back to where you came from, WE DON'T WANT YOU!'

'I have no choice, your brother wound my spring.' Suigintou stated. 'I can easily kill him off. THEN I will be able to leave!'

'DON'T BE DIFFICULT!' Mirien yelled.

'You're telling ME not to be difficult?' Suigintou said angrily. 'YOU'RE the one being difficult!'

'The fact that you're HERE and won't leave makes you difficult!' Mirien yelled.

'I told you, I can't leave unless I kill Rikou' Suigintou yelled at Mirien.

'SEE, YOU ARE BEING DIFFICULT!' Mirien yelled back.

'I'm not difficult, you are just an annoying, stupid girl!' Suigintou said angrily.

'Me, annoying? Your eyes are FREAKY! No sane person or idiotic doll would ever have eyes like that! I can't even pick out whether they're red or purple!' Mirien yelled at Suigintou. 'And your name is such a dreary sounding name! What sort of person would give their child a name like 'Suigintou'?'

Suigintou halted her thoughts, as Mirien reminded her of the one thing she hated above all things. Suigintou begun to feel a large amount of dark energy bubbling up from deep within herself…

'Now Mirien, it's nice of you to drop by, but I think your presence is not one that's needed right now.' Rikou said nervously, as he noticed Suigintou was starting to become angry.

Mirien turned and walked out the room muttering 'Stupid, idiotic dolls.'

Rikou sighed a breath of relief. He was going to have to keep those two away from each other, if he didn't want war to break out in his apartment.

He sat down on the bed, besides Suigintou. She still looked very angry.

'Suigintou…I'm very sorry about Mirien's behaviour. She is only nice to humans.' Rikou told Suigintou.

'Why?' She asked him.

'I have told you before about how my parents were so obsessed with living dolls that they abandoned us, right?' Rikou asked.

'Yes, you have.' She replied.

'Well…Mirien believes that the living dolls are to blame for our parents actions. So, she began to hate all living dolls. She can't be in the same room as one, with out yelling at it. She is nice, most of the time, but when it comes to living dolls…'

'I kind of understand what he is trying to tell me. After all, I was…scraped…by my own father and I blamed my sisters for that.' She thought to herself.

'…Rikou?' Suigintou said to him. 'When I was arguing with Mirien…I felt something that I haven't felt in a very long time…'

'A-And what would that be?' Rikou asked, slightly nervous to find out what that 'feeling' was.

'In the last Alice Game era…I…used to…terrorise my sisters a lot. When ever one of them would anger me, I would feel this…dark energy rising from within myself. I got myself a medium about half way through that era and she caused that darkness to fade away. I thought that I would never feel that sort of evil anger again. ' She explained to him.

'Now it only seems to happen when the unusualness of my name is mentioned...' She thought aloud in a whisper.

'Your name? Is there something wrong with your name?' Rikou asked.

Realising that she had said something she did not mean to, Suigintou turned away from Rikou. A voice inside her head began to taunt her.

'Something wrong with it? Everything is wrong with it. I hate it. I hate what it means. Father, why? Why did you call me something like that? Was it because I was junk? Did I really mean nothing to you?'

Suigintou stood up on the bed and flew over to the window. She opened it and flew out.

'Wait, Suigintou, I'm sorry! I…'Rikou said. 'Did I…insult her?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou sat on top of a large skyscraper with her legs over the edge of the building. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the amount of traffic below had gradually gotten bigger.

Suigintou was crying. Her head was buried in her hands. If someone had been on the top of that skyscraper with her, they would have barely heard her crying.

'Why am I the one who has to live with this pain? Why was I the one who was scrapped? Did Father just want me to suffer? Is there something wrong with me?' Suigintou sulked, tears flowing down her cheeks.

'I…I've been doing this too often, I need to pull myself together…' She thought to herself. 'I should be able to be strong…I just need to calm down…'

After taking a few deep breaths and drying the last of her tears, she stood up on the edge of the building. She stared for a few moments at the afternoon sun, before taking flight over the bustling city.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou had stayed out of his sister's way for most of the day. Mirien had shut herself in her room and refused to come out, no matter how hard Rikou pleaded.

He had already realised that Mirien was probably mad at him for bringing a living doll into the house and had been trying to explain to her that Suigintou would not leave him alone, no matter what he did.

And, as the afternoon drew to a close, he found himself standing in front of Mirien's room trying to convince her to come out.

'Mirien? You know, it's almost dinner time, and you must be feeling hungry…'

'I'm not hungry.' Mirien replied.

'O…Ok then…' Rikou mumbled.

Rikou stood in front of the door for a few minutes, thinking about any possible method he could use to persuade Mirien to come out of her room.

'If you really want me to come out the badly, why don't you just make HER go away! Then I'll be REALLY happy!'

'For your information, Suigintou IS gone.' Rikou told her. 'I think I made her upset…I don't know, it's hard to tell with her…'

'Will she be coming back?'

'I…I don't know…' Rikou replied.

'So, there is a possibility that she might be returning?'

'Yeah…But…'

'I'M NOT COMING OUT UNTIL I'M SURE SHE'S GONE FOR GOOD!'

'Look, if there is REALLY no way that you can like her, can't you just be tolerant of her and stop insulting her?' Rikou asked.

'NO! May I remind you that you hated living dolls too? Is SHE any different? Added to that, she is one of the most rude, disobedient living dolls that has ever been produced!'

'See, you are insulting her.' Rikou pointed out.

'Don't you remember? She insulted me too! '

'You insulted her name' Rikou said. 'Apparently, her name is very offensive.'

'…just leave me alone…'

Rikou knew he couldn't continue to argue with his sister. He turned away from the door to Mirien's room and walked into his own. He sat down on the desk chair and sighed.

'What a day this has turned out to be…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Mirien lay on her bed. She had finished sooking hours ago and now she was just thinking about the things that had happened that morning.

'Living dolls. They're all just trouble.'

'I couldn't agree more!'

'Huh?' Mirien gasped as she sat up and looked around her room, trying to locate where that voice had come from.

She stared over at the large mirror that hung on her wall, which had begun to ripple.

'What's going on?' Mirien thought in panic. 'Normal mirrors don't do this!'

Then a form began to appear out of the mirror. Long, and skinny, it was…A snake?

Mirien ran to her bed room door and tried to open it. Instead, she found it wouldn't open, no matter how hard she pulled.

'Rikou! Rikou! I'm really sorry about what happened this morning, I want to come out now!' Mirien yelled.

'I'm sorry to break it to you sweetie, but no one can hear you.'

Mirien turned and saw that standing in the place where the snake had once been there was now a living doll.

The doll had shoulder length, wavey brown hair, with fluorescent green streaked throughout and long green bangs that reached her waist. Her eyes were a light sea green.

She wore a dark green leotard-like top, with a black tutu and dark green crinkle skirt. She had dark green ankle boots and black fishnet stockings. She also wore thick golden brackets on both wrists.

'I'm sorry to hear about your brother. It seems that he has been led astray by that silver haired doll.' The living doll said.

'I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HER!' Mirien yelled at the intruder.

'Oh, don't get mad at me! I'm not on her side, sweetie. I'm on yours.' The doll calmly stated.

'Wha…? How is that even possible, you ARE a living doll!' Mirien said with annoyance.

'True, true. But the living doll you are mad at ISN'T me. Correct?'

'But...' Mirien began.

'You're just scared that the silver haired doll will steal your brother away from you. Then they'll have taken your parents, your friends and your brother….Then who will you turn to?'

'I…I don't know…' Mirien stuttered.

'Did you know that the reason living dolls came into being was because of that silver haired doll?'

Mirien froze. 'R…Really?'

'Would I lie to you, sweetie?'

'That stupid doll…First she brings those other stupid dolls into existence… Then she takes my brother…' Mirien hissed.

'All is not lost for your brother.'

Mirien turned to face the green and black doll.

'She hasn't completely taken your brother just yet…You see, she hasn't made a medium contract with him yet. But she is considering it and you can guess what will happen if she does…'

The green and black doll walked up to Mirien and looked her in the eye.

'Now…I also have business to deal with the silver haired doll…Could you help me?'

The thumb of her right hand turned into a brown coloured snake and it opening it's mouth, revealing it's silver fangs.

'…AHHHH!' Mirien screamed as she backed up against the wall.

The doll was walking slowly towards Mirien. The snake that had formed from her thumb was twisting around and hissing threateningly.

'You shouldn't worry Mirien. The snake on my thumb will only put you to sleep. You're lucky I don't want to use one of the other four fingers. They are the ones that would kill you.'

The doll giggled as Mirien screamed.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou was sitting on his desk chair reading a book, when he heard a knock at the door, followed by the sound of someone sobbing.

'Rikou…Come out quickly…I…I've been bitten…' Mirien said from behind her door, her voice merely above a whisper.

'Bitten? By what?' Rikou said as he got up from the chair and walked toward the door.

'A snake' Mirien replied.

'A…A…A SNAKE!' Rikou yelled in panic. 'What sort of snake?'

Rikou opened the door and found his sister leaning against the wall, clutching her right shoulder.

'I don't…know…One of those thumb ones…' Mirien answered.

'Thumb snake?'Rikou asked in a confused manner. 'The bite must be making you woozy.'

Rikou helped Mirien into a sitting position on the floor.

'Well, well, well. If it isn't 'big brother' Rikou.'

He turned to see a doll with brown hair with green streaks, wearing a green and black outfit.

'What the…?'

The doll walked up to Rikou and stared at him.

'I need you out the way for a while. So be a good boy for me okay?'

Then her thumb turned into a snake! The snake barred it's fangs and hissed at Rikou.

'Woah, there is a snake on her thumb and a very vicious looking one at that! That's what Mirien must have meant…'

The doll pointed the snake at Rikou and it began to get longer and longer. Rikou ran to his room and tried to open the door. The door, however would not budge.

He wasn't sure what he felt next. But he knew, for sure, that the snake had bitten him.

'Damn…Da…It…'

His eyes went blank and he slowly turned to face the green and black doll.

'Now, I want you to go into town. Once you are there, stay there. Browse a few shops if you like.'

'Hmm…' Rikou mumbled as he walked down the hallway, and out the door that went to the lift.

'Try not to break anything on your way.' The doll giggled, as Rikou disappeared from sight.

'Now that he's gone…' She said as she turned to the unconscious Mirien. '…What shall I do with you?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou landed on the ledge of the open window in Rikou's room. She quickly scanned the room with her eyes and realised that he wasn't there.

'That's odd…I thought he wouldn't have wanted to go out…' she thought to herself.

Suigintou looked around again and sighed. After the incident this morning, she was partly relieved that Rikou wasn't around to preach to her or get mad at her.

… And yet, she was slightly worried.

'He might be somewhere else in his apartment. That has to be it.' Suigintou thought.

Suigintou floated over to the door and opened it with her wing. She wondered into the hallway, and knowing that he definitely would not be in Mirien's room, she went into the kitchen.

Mirien was in the kitchen and Suigintou eyed her as she floated over to the table and seated herself. Mirien looked at Suigintou's direction for a second, then she returned to what she was doing. Mirien appeared to be cooking something, but Suigintou didn't really care.

'Mirien' Suigintou said firmly.

'Suigintou' Mirien said coldly.

'DON'T TOY WITH ME!' Suigintou snapped.

'I will not' Mirien replied.

'…Do you know where Rikou is?' Suigintou asked.

'He is out' Mirien said dully.

'Where did he go?' Suigintou asked.

'I do not know, I did not ask him.' Mirien replied.

Suigintou studied Mirien for a moment or two. 'Why is she being so…agreeable? Didn't she hate me this morning?'

'Suigintou?' Mirien said coldly.

'What?' Suigintou replied.

'Are you mad at me? Because I insulted you?' Mirien asked her.

'…perhaps' was Suigintou's reply.

'I want you to know that I am really sorry, and I hope that you can forgive me.'

Suigintou was dumbstruck.

'Mirien, do you feel sick?'

'No, I feel just fine.' Mirien replied.

'It's just that…' Suigintou began.

'What?' Mirien cut in.

'…Nothing' Suigintou said with a sigh.

Suigintou turned to the window next to the table and stared out at the street below. The people walked up and down the streets, carrying living dolls with them, or having one walk beside them. She had even seen the occasional one being pulled around on a leash!

Some cars would drive by every so often, and in each was at least one human and each human had a living doll. The few shops along this street had both humans and living dolls, working side by side to get customers and earn some money.

'To think that if I even TRIED any of those activities in public in that last Alice Game Era, people would think I was some sort of rare supernatural phenomenon.' Suigintou thought to herself. 'Now living dolls are doing all these things, and more, as if it was normal occurrence. And with living dolls being able to do more and more…'

Suddenly, Suigintou felt a painful sting on the side of her neck. She looked where she thought the pain was and saw two reddish marks just below her lacy choker near her shoulder.

Suigintou instantly turned to face Mirien, only to see that her thumb had turned into a brown coloured snake.

Then Mirien began to change. The thing that she turned into definitely looked like a doll. She had dark green wavey hair with green streaks, and green bangs that reached her waist. She wore a black and dark green outfit, fish net stockings and green ankle boots. She had a thick gold bracelet on both wrists and her eyes were a sea green.

'Well, well, well! What do we have here, sweetie?' the dark green doll said mockingly.

'Why you…' Suigintou said with anger.

Suigintou slid off her chair, only to find herself collapsing on the floor and wincing in pain.

'What is…?' She murmured, as the dark green doll approached her.

'You've been bitten by the thumb snake, which makes all it's victims fall to sleep or become unconscious, depending on how much venom is ejected. Unfortunately, I couldn't use the other four, as they would poison you, and master wanted you…Alive!'

The doll laughed as Suigintou's vision began to blur. The doll bunched some of Suigintou's hair and pulled it, forcing Suigintou to face her.

'I am not Mirien, she is asleep in her room. She just allowed me to assume her identity for a while. My name is Scylla, sweetie.'

'…Rikou…'

'That idiot really is out, and I have no intention of harming him…If you allow me to take you to the master.'

Scylla let go of Suigintou's hair as she became unconscious.

Scylla giggled. She picked up Suigintou's body and began to drag it out of the kitchen.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou was in some sort of trance and he had been wondering aimlessly about the town for about two hours. People and dolls alike, stopped to stare at the 'zombie boy', before shrugging and continuing on with their business.

Rikou was standing in front of a café in the middle of town, when he finally snapped out of his trance and his mind returned to him.

'Wha? What's going on? How did I get here?' Rikou started to panic.

He glanced at his wrist, only to discover that his watch was missing. He went into the café that he was standing in front of and walked up to the counter.

'Umm…Excuse me…Do you know what the time is?

'Yes, it is five to six. Is there anything else I can do for you?' The blonde girl standing behind the counter replied.

'No, not really. I guess I'd better be going.'

'Please come again soon then!' She said.

Rikou turned and walked away. His walk gradually broke into a run.

'There's some sort of creepy doll in my house with Mirien! Maybe that doll is after Suigintou. Why else would it be there?' Rikou thought as he ran.

He knew this town fairly well, so he would be back in his apartment in about half an hour if he kept at this pace.

'I hope that doll hasn't done anything to either of them!'.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

I present you with this chapter!

If any of you mythology fanatics were wondering, yes, Scylla is named after the six headed sea monster that Ulysses encounters on his voyage in Greek mythology.

On Scylla's right hand only, she can transform the fingers into mini snakes. The four fingers have a poisonous bite, while the thumb only puts you to sleep and can make you unconscious, if you are ejected with a lot of venom.

If you were wondering why this chapter wasn't concluded, I decided to split it in half because I decided that this new conflict would take more than one chapter to resolve.


	11. Lyn

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn and the personality of Joenna. 

**Chapter 11**

Scylla searched the rooms of the apartment for a mirror that was large enough for both herself and the unconscious Suigintou to get through. It seemed that the only mirror that was large enough for the two of them, was the one in Mirien's room.

Scylla entered Mirien's room, dragging Suigintou behind her. She spotted Mirien's large mirror, hanging on the wall behind the door. 

Scylla put her hand against the mirror, in order to open the portal to her master's house. But, the portal would not open, and the mirror didn't ripple

She tried to open the portal again, using some of her energy. Her hand began to glow an emerald green. Suddenly, she pulled her hand back from the mirror. 

'WHAT?' Scylla yelled. 'How could the portal be locked? I checked the portal before I left, to make sure there was no chance of it locking!'

'Maybe you should have exterminated the 'bug' on the other side of the portal, Onee-san.'

Scylla turned and saw her younger sister, Lyn, sitting on the open windowsill. 

'Lyn, what are you doing here? I have something very important to give to the master and I don't want you to ruin it!'

'Oh, I don't know. I just followed you here, because you looked so determined when you left, so I had to find out what you were up too!'

Lyn stood up on the windowsill. Lyn had light blonde hair that was slightly wavey and dark blue eyes. She was wearing a light blue tank top, with a black corset, and dark blue netball skirt. She had black, hard-heel slippers, with a strap going across the ankle and knee high socks, with blue ribbing around the thighs. She was wearing white and blue wrist gloves, and a black top hat with a blue ribbon around it. 

'Lyn…' Scylla hissed. 'Wait, what bug? So IT WAS YOU WHO LOCKED THE PORTAL!'

'No, it wasn't me Onee-san.' Lyn said. 'But you're getting very close! Let's think about it…Who else would have a good reason to stop you from bringing Suigintou to the master?'

Scylla stared at Lyn for a few seconds, trying to figure out who would have had the ability to lock the portal. Then it came to her.

'No way…She's supposed to be asleep! How could she…' Scylla yelled. 'Lyn, YOU WOKE HER UP! You're going to be in so much trouble if the master finds out!'

'Don't jump to conclusions, Onee-san!' Lyn giggled. 'The dose of sleeping-poison you gave her must have worn off…She locked the portal after she saw you and me go through it.'

'But that's wasn't the only reason you came, was it?' Scylla asked Lyn, suspiciously.

'I guess not…I was also hoping to gain a little something to give to the master.' Lyn sighed.

'No Lyn, you're not taking Suigintou to the master. I caught her, she's mine!' Scylla yelled.

'What if…I defeat you in a battle. You'll be too weak to take her to the master. If you're nice to me I might even let you have some credit …' Lyn said.

'We'll see about that, Lyn!' Scylla yelled. 

Scylla's five fingers on her right hand turned into five mini snakes and they expanded at lightning pace, towards Lyn. Lyn took the top hat off her head, and disappeared. Scylla's snakes went right through the place Lyn had once been. 

Lyn reappeared behind Scylla, summoned a magician's wand and pointed it at Scylla. The wand let out a 'bang' from the tip, and Scylla flew to the other end of the room.

'That does it…' Scylla hissed.

Scylla jumped at Lyn in an attempt to pin her down, but Lyn grabbed Scylla's arm and hurdled her out the window, breaking it in the process. 

Scylla hit the building opposite Rikou's apartment, and continued to fall down the building onto the street. 

Lyn pointed her wand at the sky, and black ash formed around it. The black ash spread outward, and soon the town was dark and empty.

'An…N-Field?' Scylla whispered.

Lyn jumped out the window, landing gracefully on the street. She summoned her magicians wand, and pointed it at Scylla, so that she was ready for Scylla's next move.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou ran around the corner, onto the street that his apartment building was on. He suddenly felt a great disturbance, and everything around him turned a shade of black. He looked up, only to see two dolls sparing up and down the road. 

'There's that evil green doll.' Rikou thought to himself. 'I wonder who she's sparing with?'

Rikou looked at the entrance to the apartment building. 

'There's no way I'm going to be able to get in without those dolls noticing…'

He looked up and down the entire street, seeing if there was a way he could possibly get through, with out being noticed by the other dolls. Then, he remembered.

'The back entrance! Why didn't I think of that before!' He thought, turning to run back around the corner. He went the long way around, trying to avoid that street as much as possible. When he finally came to the back entrance, he pushed the two swing doors open and entered the foyer. 

'Should I use the lift or the stairs?' He thought to himself, as he looked back and forth from the lift and the stairs. 

'It's only the fifth floor up…Damn, I'll just use the stairs!' He thought, as he began his run up the stairs.

When he got to the fifth floor, he unlocked his apartment door, fumbling with the keys as he did so, and went inside. He closed the door, locked it and leaned against the door to catch his breath. 

'The last time I ran up the stairs like that, was with Mirien when I was about 11…' He thought to himself. 'And when we got to the top, we would pull faces at all the people on the street with living dolls.'

When he finally caught his breath, he walked towards his room and opened the door. 

'There's no one in here. I thought that Suigintou might have returned, but maybe she decided to leave for good.' He thought.

He turned and went down the hallway, to Mirien's room. He opened the door, only to find both Mirien and Suigintou, and they were unconscious. 

Mirien was lying in her bed, and if the circumstances had been different, it would have looked like she was merely sleeping. Suigintou, however, was lying in a heap on the floor, near Mirien's mirror, in a position, that looked to Rikou, like she had been temporarily dumped there. Mirien's window was broken and there was a slight draft coming in from outside. 

'Oh no…What am I going to do?' Rikou thought in panic. 

He went over to Mirien's bed and checked her breathing and her pulse. 

'It's like she's just sleeping…I wonder what was in the snake venom when it bit her?' Rikou thought. 

Rikou's focus then moved to Suigintou, who was lying on the floor, not to far away. He sat down beside her, and picked her up underneath her arms. 

'Of course she won't show any signs of life…She's a doll after all, she doesn't really breathe...' He thought to himself.

Suigintou began to flinch. She was shaking all over, and was desperately trying to open her eyes. 

'…Suigintou?' Rikou asked in confusion.

When Suigintou finally managed to fully open her eyes, she found herself being held by the idiot that she lived with. 

'Oh…It's only you…' Suigintou said weakly.

'Only me? Who were you expecting? Freaky green doll?' Rikou asked her.

'…Kind of…' Suigintou said. 'We're still in your apartment, right?'

'Yeah…Otherwise I would not be here.' Rikou replied.

'If Scylla comes back, she will kill us both. I'm too weak to fight back.' Suigintou looked directly at him. 'Leave here now, before she comes back…'

'What about Mirien?' Rikou asked.

'She'll be fine as long as she doesn't wake up. And it doesn't look like that is going to happen anytime soon…' Suigintou replied.

'Surely there's something I can do to help you?' Rikou asked.

'No. You are pretty useless.' Suigintou weakly laughed.

'So, you're telling me that I ran half way across town and up 5 flights of stairs, while avoiding two sparing dolls, for nothing?' Rikou asked.

'I'm sorry…You can't…Unless…But I won't…' Suigintou muttered.

'You can't what?' Rikou asked.

'I…I could…' Suigintou muttered. She took a deep breath before finishing. 'I could…form a medium contract with you.'

Rikou was taken back. That was it? 

'What's wrong with forming a medium contract? People do it all the time with…'

'I'm not a normal living doll, the terms of my contract are different. Haven't I told you that before?' Suigintou strained her voice. 'Once I form a contract with you, I am bound to you, until either I die or you die.'

'…I see.' Rikou had completely forgotten that Suigintou may not be an ordinary living doll. 

'I don't like being 'bound' to others by force…' Suigintou told him.

'I should have expected that, coming from you…' Rikou replied.

There was a silence between the two for a few moments.

'So, are there any other ways to get out of the current situation?' Rikou asked.

'The only one I can think of, is if I fight them off, and considering my condition right now, it won't take much to defeat me.' Suigintou told him.

Rikou thought for a few seconds, before he had an idea.

'Hey, Suigintou! I just thought of something that could work.' Rikou said.

'What?'

'We could run…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Onee-san, Onee-san, when will you learn? Although you're good at trickery, you are hopeless at one-on-one combat…' Lyn sighed. 

'Shut up Lyn, just shut up!' Scylla yelled. 

'But I was being so nice to Onee-san! Why is she yelling at me? I didn't even knock her out!' Lyn said to Scylla. 

Scylla just laughed at her. 'You're only jealous, because at the moment I'm master's favourite, as I've been the most successful at bringing him the Rozen Maidens. And Morielta and yourself have cost the master SO much power, with very little results…'

Lyn jabbed Scylla's neck with her wand. 'That's not true. Master loves us all! He just shows you more of it, that's all!' 

'Keep telling yourself that, sweetie.' Scylla laughed. 'Or maybe he's showing me more affection, because he wants to motivate the two of you!'

'No, no, no, no!' Lyn yelled. 'I refuse to believe that something like that would be true!' 

'So, Lyn, are you going to throw a tantrum?' Scylla said, sarcastically. 'I guess you're just so young and immature…'

'STOP IT OR I WILL KILL YOU!' Lyn yelled.

Then, the two of them were suddenly entangled in a large green tree. 

Both Suiseseki and Souseseki made themselves visible, and both were holding their gardening weapons. 

'You've gone way to far this timedesu!' Suiseseki yelled, pointing the watering can at Scylla and Lyn.

'Wha…? There are more of them?' Lyn gasped.

'Lyn, there are seven. I thought the master told you that!' Scylla yelled at her.

'Living dolls these days…' Souseseki sighed. 

'SO, where is Suigintou desu! I demand to know what you have done with her desu!' Suiseseki yelled.

'I'm not tel…' Scylla began.

'She's in the apartment building, in the room with the broken window!' Lyn yelled overtop of Scylla.

'LYN!' Scylla yelled angrily.

Lyn merely stuck her tongue out at Scylla.

'Thank you very much…Umm…Blonde haired doll…' Souseseki said. 'Suiseseki, you stay here and guard the two evil dolls. I'll go see if I can find Suigintou. But, if you two are lying to us…'

'You'll be in BIG troubledesu!' Suiseseki finished.

Souseseki leapt up the building, and disappeared into the room with the broken window. 

Suiseseki watched her leave, and then turned back to Lyn and Scylla.

'You two…START TALKING DESU!' Suiseseki yelled.

'Huh?' Both Scylla and Lyn replied.

'Are you working with Morielta desu!' Suiseseki asked.

Both Scylla and Lyn were silent.

'WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE DESU?' 

'…Y…Yeah, we are.' Lyn reluctantly answered. 'She's kinda our older sister.'

'How many sisters do you havedesu?'

'There's only the three of us.' Lyn replied with a sigh.

'LYN! Why are you telling her all that stuff?' Scylla yelled.

At that moment, Souseseki appeared from the window and leapt down the building.

'Guess what?' Souseseki asked, sarcastically. 'Suigintou isn't there. There's only a sleeping girl.'

'SO YOU DID TRICK US DESU!' Suiseseki yelled, pointing her watering can at the two dolls. 'You better get ready to feel the wrath of a true Rozen Maiden because when I'm through with you…'

'Stop, they weren't tricking you!' 

Suiseseki and Souseseki turned to see Rikou, carrying Suigintou in his arms, at the front of the apartment building.

'I took her from the apartment building, so that they would stop hurting her.' Rikou said softly.

'Rikou. Put me down.' Suigintou ordered him.

Rikou's looked down at Suigintou, who had been somewhere between conscious and unconscious a few moments before. 

'But…Are you sure you can manage?' Rikou asked, concern evident in his voice.

'I'll be fine Rikou, please put me down.' Suigintou asked him.

Rikou put her down on the footpath, and watched nervously as Suigintou stumbled over to her sisters. 

'I think…I think we should punish them just a little…' Suigintou said. 'Tighten the binds, Suiseseki.'

'Okaydesu!' Suiseseki said with a smile.

The trees instantly began to tighten around the two evil dolls. 

Scylla then felt the portal open again. She smiled. She began to vanish, and she soon, she had disappeared completely. 

The tree squeezed Lyn very tightly. Suddenly, she began to choke. Then, she began to vomit. She coughed and spluttered, before finally vomiting up a black slimy ball. 

The black slime gathered up to form a black, worm-like creature, revealing a tiny, golden circular object. 

'Wha…What IS thatdesu?' Suiseseki asked, taking a fearful step backwards.

Souseseki suddenly summoned her shears and sliced the black worm in two. The worm slowly disintegrated. 

'Well, what ever it was is dead now.' Souseseki chuckled. 

Lyn took a fearful look at the three sisters, before vanishing in the same way Scylla had.

There was a silence between the three sisters and Rikou until Souseseki said:

'We better get off the road, before the N-field breaks.' 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou sighed, as he turned his computer off. It had been a long day for him and he was just glad things had turned out like they had.

The N-field had broken, shortly after Rikou had somehow persuaded Suigintou to get some rest. Suigintou was now sleeping on his bed, and he had tried to be as quiet as he could, so that he didn't wake her up. 

Mirien's sleep had suddenly ended when the N-field had broken, and as far as Rikou knew, she was having dinner in the kitchen. 

His stomach let out a growl, suddenly reminding him that he hadn't had any dinner either. 

Rikou walked into the kitchen, and he saw that Mirien was still eating her dinner. She looked at him for a few seconds and then turned away. Rikou got his dinner out and put it in the microwave.

'Hey Rikou?' Mirien said.

'Hmmm…?' Rikou replied turning to face her.

'I'm really sorry about how I yelled at you this morning. I shouldn't have done that. If I hadn't, then none of this would have ever happened. So…umm…can you forgive me?'

'Well, you're my little sister, so of course I forgive you! As long as you do all my chores next week.'

'WHAT?!' Mirien said in shock.

'I was only kidding Mirien! I'm not that evil.' Rikou said.

'Sure, Rikou. Sure.' Mirien said with a laugh. 

For the next few minutes, there was silence. The microwave dinged, signalling that Rikou's dinner was probably ready to eat. Rikou took it out the microwave, and sat down opposite his sister at the table. He began eating.

'Rikou, is she okay?' 

Rikou stopped eating and looked up at his sister. 

'Yeah, I think Suigintou is only tired.' Rikou said. 

'You…You know…' Mirien stuttered.

'What?' Rikou asked.

'I think the two of you should get a contract together.' Mirien said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

'Huh?' Rikou was confused.

Mirien stood up and began to wash her plate.

'I still don't like living dolls. But I'm going to make an exception of her, because she is a Rozen Maiden. And plus, it would be nice to have some other company in the house, don't you think?'

Mirien finished washing up her things, and walked out the room before Rikou could reply.

After Rikou finished his dinner and cleaned up, he wandered back into his room. When he entered the room, he saw Suigintou sitting on the side of the bed.

'Oh…You're awake.' Rikou said as he sat down on the desk chair.

'I seem to be.' Suigintou replied. 'I still feel a bit tired.'

'Why don't you go back to sleep then?' Rikou asked.

'I…I was thinking…About what I told you before…' Suigintou took a deep breath. 'I would be a lot more powerful in the human world, if I had a medium, and those dolls seem to be after my sisters and I, so…'

Suigintou stared down at her hands, which were gripping the black fabric of her dress. 

'Since you were the one that wound my spring, I have to make a contract with you.'

'Are you sure? I mean, it's fine with me, but you…?' Rikou stuttered.

'If those dolls insist on attacking us, it's for the best that I have a medium, so that I can fight in the human world.' Suigintou told Rikou. 

'Ok, if that's good with you... So, I kiss the ring on your hand right?' Rikou asked.

'Yes.' 

Suigintou held out her left hand and the ring began to glow a light purple. Rikou took her hand, and kissed the golden rose ring.

Instantly, he felt a searing pain on the middle finger of his left hand. He jerked his hand away from Suigintou and looked at his left middle finger. Instead of being bare, there was a gold rose ring, identical to Suigintou's on his finger. 

'There. I'm going to go back to sleep now. Just don't try to pull it off, or your skin will come off with it.' Suigintou yawned. She tucked herself in, and rolled over to face the wall.

Rikou continued to stare at Suigintou a long time after she had gone to bed. He had long forgotten the original reason why he had come to his room in the first place.

He booted up his computer and began browsing the internet. But this time, he was not browsing anything he felt like at the time. This time, he was looking up Living Dolls, and the Rozen Maiden Legend. He already knew quite a bit about Living Dolls, but he had never paid much attention to the Rozen Maiden Legend, because he had thought it was, most likely, fake. 

Then, something gleaming on his desk caught his eye. It was the tiny, golden object that Lyn had vomited up. Suiseseki and Souseseki had asked him to look after it, because Rina's house was a mess and she would probably loose it. He would have to ask Suigintou about it in the morning. 

Suigintou had not gone to sleep. Under the covers, she stared at her medium's ring. Instead of coming and going, like it usually did when she had no medium, it was now solid and had not left her since she had formed the contract. She held the ring near her lips and smiled. Perhaps the day had not been such a bad day after all. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

Now that all the pieces have been set in place, let's see how the game will be played!

In other words, I have finished setting things up. This is when things begin to get interesting. I have a few things to say about this chapter.

Firstly, I hope that Lyn vomiting the golden object up wasn't too disgusting…But the slug was killed, so that would be OK, right?

Secondly, due to the fact I have gone back to school, chapter updates may be slower than they were in the holidays. But they will still happen! I will try to update as much as my schooling life lets me. 


	12. Tipped Balance

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna. 

**Chapter 12**

'He wants to see the three of you now.' The door keeper told the three dolls waiting nervously in the hall outside.

The three of them slowly walked towards the door. The eldest, who was the first to reach the door, pulled it open and allowed her younger sisters to enter before herself.

The three dolls stood in some sort of office, there were papers and files scattered everywhere. On the shelfs around the room, there was a variety of books. The room was very dimly lit.

There was a man sitting with his back towards them, in a desk chair that was in front of a desk. The room was entirely silent, apart from the small 'click' of the door closing. The man began to speak.

'Tell me, what have you three been up to since I last saw you.' 

None of the three dolls dared to speak, due to the fact they had achieved very little since they had last seen this man.

'Surely, you must know what you've been doing since I last saw you three weeks ago.' 

There was still silence.

'Fine then. I have no choice but to ask you individually. And you'd better answer. Morielta?'

Morielta stepped forward. 'Yes?'

'What of the mission? I hear that you found three other Rozen Maiden dolls…And you failed to catch them.'

'That is true.' 

'…I see. Scylla…'

Scylla also stepped forward. 'Yes?'

'I have heard that the one who was sleeping under your poison has woken up again. Why is this?'

'We…Well…The effects of the poison aren't permanent. But, she has been restrained and I will be giving her a new dose shortly.'

'Good. Lyn…'

'Yes, sir?'

'I need to speak to these two in private. I will tell you when the time is right.'

'Okay, sir.'

Lyn left the room, and closed the door behind her.

'I do believe that only yesterday, Lyn vomited up that 'object' that I gave her. Morielta and Scylla, I want you to find the 'object' and bring it back. Once you do, follow the same procedures as last time to put it back. But hurry. The effects of having it within her will wear off soon, and I don't want that to happen.'

'Yes.' Both Morielta and Scylla replied.

'You may go.' 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'I can't believe we have to find that golden thing that keeps Lyn from going hyper on us.' Scylla sighed. 'What's the point in that?'

'Remember what Lyn was like before Master gave it to her? If she changed back, she could ruin all our work, and that will upset the master.'

Scylla rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get your point.'

Morielta turned to face her sister. 'So, you were in the area where she vomited it up. Where do we start looking?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

It was midday on the Sunday that had followed Scylla and Lyn's attack. Suigintou was flying over the city, trying to remember which house was Rina's. 

'These cities are all so big, and all the buildings look the same. How boring. Why don't they do something different for once?'

Suigintou continued her search, until she spotted the purple-red roof of Rina's house. One thing about Rina's house that stood out from the rest of the city, was that she had a very large garden. Most of the houses had very little garden space, if any at all.

Suigintou, realising that all the windows were closed and most likely locked, rang the door bell and leaned against the wall near it. 

Rina came to answer it and pulled the door open. Rina looked around the outside area, in all the areas except directly next to her, which was where Suigintou was floating.

'I'm over here.' 

Rina turned, with a very shocked expression on her face. Her shock turned into a cheery smile when she saw Suigintou.

'I remember you! You're Sue…Sueigen…Suieguen…'

'Suigintou?' She said with a sigh.

Rina clicked her fingers. 'Yes. That's it! I assume you want to see Suiseseki and Souseseki?'

'Why else would I be here?' 

Rina let Suigintou and herself inside, closed the door and locked it, while still continuing to chat to Suigintou. 

'They are inside sitting at the table. We just finished lunch you see, and I had a concert this morning, and I brought Suiseseki and Souseseki along with me, because they desperately wanted to know what I did for my job, and they made friends with another doll, and we brought her home with us, as a guest, and of course I had to get her medium's permission first and he didn't seem to mind, and…'

Suigintou was not listening to Rina's drabble, and had begun to stare at the unusual paintings, and vases of flowers that sat on display tables in the hall. 

She re-tuned to Rina's speech when she suddenly yelled 'Suiseseki, Souseseki, your sister is here!'

Rina turned to Suigintou. 'I have a promo to go to very soon, so I'll be leaving you with them. Please be nice to the guest!'

Rina ran up the stairs in order to finish getting her things together in order to go out, leaving Suigintou to her own devices.

Souseseki appeared from the door at the end of the hallway.

'Oh, so it's you!' Souseseki said in a surprised manner. 'After what happened yesterday, I assume you're here to discuss the events that have been happening?'

'I wouldn't come here for any other reason.' Suigintou replied.

'We've just finished lunch, so we were in the kitchen.' Souseseki turned and walked back into the kitchen. 

When Suigintou entered the kitchen, she got a shock. 

'So, you're here desu!' Suiseseki said, while eating a choc-chip cookie at the same time.

Suigintou completely ignored what Suiseseki had just said, and pointed at the guest.

'YOU! What are you doing here?' Suigintou yelled.

Joenna, who was sitting at the end of the table, simply smiled up at Suigintou. 

'HI! I remember you! I saw you on Friday night! You're Suigintou aren't you?'

'Yeah, that's our sister Suigintou desu. When things are shocking to her, she likes to yell at people, so don't take it personally desu!'

'EXCUSE ME?!' Suigintou yelled at Suiseseki.

'Could we please cam down?' Souseseki said, although her two sisters present weren't listening and had continued bickering at each other.

'COULD YOU BOTH BE CIVIL FOR JUST 5 MINUTES?' Souseseki yelled over top of Suiseseki and Suigintou's argument. 

Suiseseki sat back down and pretended to eat her cookie. Suigintou sat herself down on a chair opposite Joenna, who was still smiling happily at her. Souseseki was next to Suigintou, and Suiseseki was across from Souseseki and next to Joenna. 

The four of them sat in silence for a few seconds, before Souseseki decided to begin speaking. 

'Well, since no one else is ready to start…We have been attacked two days in a row by a group of dolls that are working together for this 'Master'. On Friday evening, we were attacked by a black grim-reaper's doll named Morielta, whose weakness is water. On Saturday evening, Suigintou, her Idiot and the Idiot's sister were attacked by a pair of dolls; Scylla, who had the power of poisonous snakes, and Lyn, whose powers we didn't get to see.'

'THAT'S RIGHT DESU!' Suiseseki yelled. 'If they ever dare to attack us again, I'll feed them to the sharks desu!' 

'So you guys have been attacked by three strange dolls in a row?' Joenna asked. ' But that's not possible! We dolls aren't able to use our powers for offensive attacking out of the battle arenas!'

'That's why we brought her desu!' Suiseseki whispered across the table at Suigintou. ' She seems to know a lot about the conditions of those fake dolls desu. And plus…'

Suiseseki leaned in even further and her voice dropped even lower in volume. 'Doesn't she remind you of someone we used to know desu?'

Suiseseki sat back in her chair, picked up another cookie and started to eat it. 

'Joenna's appearance does remind me of Barasuishou, but her personality however…' Suigintou thought, as Joenna began to attack a cookie with one side of her mouth. 'No Barasuishou qualities there…' Suigintou thought with a sigh.

Souseseki looked at Joenna directly. 'Well, it seems our secret is out anyway. Suigintou, Suiseseki and I are three of the seven Rozen Maidens. Suigintou is the eldest, Suiseseki is the third-eldest, and I am the fourth-eldest, and Suiseseki's younger twin.'

'WOW! Does that mean you can do special stuff?' Joenna said with excitement. 

'Yeah desu! As long as we have a medium, we can fight in the human world anywhere, and Suigintou can fly in the human world with no problems desu! Souseseki and I have to use our cases.' Suiseseki said.

'That's so awesome! But…If those dolls attacked you, that means that they also have offensive attacks that can be used outside the battle arenas! You should report this to the police!' 

'The police bother with things like this?' Suigintou asked.

'We live in an age where dolls are the rage! Of course they have rules for them.' Joenna replied.

'Joenna, we have been alive for a very long time, and the longest Alice Game era lasted seven years.' Souseseki explained. 'We awaken when an era begins, and go to sleep when an era ends. This is the first era we've existed in that has these 'living dolls' in them.' 

'So the whole 'Alice Game, fighting-to-the-death, just to become human' aspects from the legend are true?' Joenna asked. 

'Unfortunately desu.' Suiseseki said sadly.

There was a silence between the four of them, until Souseseki spoke up.

'…So, from what we know, the three dolls aren't working for themselves. They have some sort of master, who wants to capture us.'

'I wouldn't be surprised' Joenna said with a sigh. 'There are some really obsessive doll collectors out there that would stop at nothing to have the 'legendary Rozen Maidens' among their collections. '

'That would include hurting our medium and your idiot desu' Suiseseki said.

'The idiot is now my medium. We made a contract yesterday evening.' Suigintou announced.

'That's great desu! Now you can fight in the human world without getting tired all the time desu!' Suiseseki yelled happily.

'But, that further improves the risk of him being a target for an attack.' Souseseki stated. 'All I ask, is that you keep an eye on things in your idiot's home, and if anything seems out of the ordinary, find out what is going on and deal with it quickly. The longer something lasts, the more powerful it will grow.'

'I know, you told me that yesterday.' Suigintou said with a sigh. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou finished off his homework, and sat down on his desk chair. It was early afternoon, and the weather had become quite humid. He was tired, which considering the events of yesterday, he had half expected it. 

He closed his book and lay his head on the desk. Rikou instantly noticed the black feathers that Suigintou had left near the keyboard. He picked one of them up and began to play with it. 

'Her feathers are so soft, you would never guess that she uses them to cut things with.' Rikou thought.

At that point in time, he was drawn to a very loud conversation that was being held in the street. 

'Are you sure this was where it was?'

'Of course I am! I was nearly choked by that stupid tree!' 

Rikou turned to the window and looked outside. He gasped and then sat on the bed, out of sight from the window. 

It was that green snake doll, and she had another black doll with her that he had never seen.

'Wha…What are they doing back here? Have they come back here to attack? They wouldn't have or they would have already done it. From their speech, perhaps they were looking for something.' Rikou thought.

'The gold thing!' Rikou suddenly realised. 'Of course! Now where is it…'

Rikou turned to his desk, to find that the golden object had gone. He began to rummage through the things on his desk.

'Where is it? Where is it?' Rikou thought frantically.

He heard his window smash, and when he turned to look, he saw Scylla and the other doll enter his room through the broken window.

'That's him?' The black doll asked.

'Yeah.' Scylla said rolling her eyes. 'He's an idiot. You should be able to get tons of information out of him.'

The black doll summoned what looked like a scythe, and pointed it at Rikou's neck.

'Yesterday, Lyn vomited up a golden object. Where is it?' the black doll asked.

'I…I don't know.' Rikou replied. 

'You don't sound so convincing…' the black doll said, pressing the scythe against Rikou's neck.

'I don't know! I really don't know!' Rikou yelled.

'Don't torment him sis, he's telling the truth.' Scylla said. 

The black doll's scythe vanished and she stepped back.

'Perhaps…' Scylla said mockingly. 'You could tell me where Suigintou is? She may know.' 

'I don't know where she is.' Rikou said nervously, although what he was saying was true.

'Don't worry Hun, we'll find her for you! Scylla said with a smirk.

The darkly dressed doll and Scylla jumped from the window ledge, and continued to leap from building to building until they were out of sight. 

'Why doesn't Suigintou ever tell me when she's going to go out, or where she's going? I worry about her…' Rikou thought. 'She probably would have no clue where that golden object is…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'We also need to figure out what this thing is' Suigintou fished around in her dress for something. 

Suigintou found what she had been looking for, and held up the small golden object, that Lyn had vomited up.

'Let me see that.' Joenna asked. 

Joenna looked it over, examining it from every angle.

'I suspected it as soon as I first saw it. If you look at it like this, it just looks like a small, well engraved pocket watch.'

'So, you know what this is?' Souseseki asked.

'Yep. It's called a 'Tipped Balance' and it's a device that cruel mediums use to manipulate their dolls personalities, and force them to have what ever personality the device is programmed to make you have. They are supposed to be illegal, it's bad to have them, even in your possession. They are absorbed by the doll at the medium's command.'

'So, perhaps the blonde one was being manipulated by their master desu! But what about the other two desu? Do they have these Tipped Balances too?' Suiseseki asked.

'We can't be sure. But if what Joenna says about it's legality is true, then we better not make it obvious that we have one.' Souseseki said. ' Suigintou, keep it with you, and don't even let your medium see it.' 

'Oh, so you're going to make me responsible for the illegal item, aren't you?' Suigintou said sarcastically, as Joenna handed it back to her.

No sooner had Suigintou slipped it back into her dress pocket, when they heard voices from the doorway.

'Well, well, well, isn't this the happy gathering?'

They turned to see Morielta and Scylla standing at the door. 

'What do you want NOW desu! I could pummel you now for what you've tried to do to us desu!' Suiseseki yelled at them.

'Calm down, Suiseseki. Myself and Morielta dearest, are not here to fight you this time. We just want to know if any of you have seen…Maybe a small golden object that previously belonged to Lyn?' 

'We have no idea what you're talking about.' Suigintou quickly said. 'Now, please leave, or things are going to get ugly.' 

'Such cruel words are unfit for a lady such as yourself, sweetie.' Scylla said, not knowing that her last word had signed her death warrant.

Suigintou lifted herself up from her chair and expanded her wings so fast, no one knew what was going on. She tackled Scylla to the ground and began to shoot feathers at her.

Suigintou heard the gardener twins and Joenna yell at her to calm down, but she didn't' listen. 

'Do NOT call me by such woosy names like that again. DO YOU HEAR ME?!' Suigintou yelled. 

'I will never do that ever again, sweetheart.' 

'Suigintou punched her fist into Scylla's stomach, and Scylla lost her breath. It was then that Suigintou felt the blade at the back of her neck.

'I recommend that you get off my sister and surrender the Tipped Balance.' Morielta whispered into Suigintou's ear. 

Suigintou got off Scylla and turned to face Morielta. She looked at the kitchen door and found that it was covered in sludge, preventing the gardener twins and Joenna from helping her.

Suigintou stared at Morielta for a few seconds, the only sounds being the distant noise of Suiseseki, Souseseki and Joenna trying to break down the door.

'What is your answer?'

'Never.' Suigintou stated.

'We'll have to do this the hard way then.' Morielta clapped her hands and sludge rose out of the ground, binding Suigintou's wrists and ankles together. Morielta slowly walked around Suigintou, until she was directly behind her. Suigintou could only see her out of the corner of her eye.

'Suigintou, what do you value most?' Morielta asked.

'I would never tell you.' Suigintou said.

Morielta then ran something very sharp underneath where her left wing jetted out of her back, and deep into the root of her left wing. Suigintou felt a tear slide down her cheek. 

'Are you sure?' Morielta asked.

'Yes.' Suigintou replied.

The sharp tool ran upwards cutting most of the wing root. Suigintou bit her lip to keep herself from screaming in pain. 

'Are you going to surrender the Tipped Balance?' Morielta asked.

'No.' 

Morielta put one hand on Suigintou's back, and the other around her left wing. She began to pull on Suigintou's wing. Intense pain shot up and down Suigintou's back. Morielta then gave it a sharp tug, and the wing came out.

Suigintou screamed, her eyes wide in horror, and uncontrollable tears ran down her cheeks. 

Morielta leaned over Suigintou, dangling the disconnected left wing in front of Suigintou's face. 

'What will your answer be now?' Morielta whispered.

Suigintou didn't say a word, and the only sounds that came from her, were the sounds of her gentle sobbing.

'Do you want me to take the other one too?' Morielta said slyly.

Suigintou still refused to answer.

Morielta, yet again, dug a sharp object underneath the place where her right wing emerged from her back. 

'Do you still refuse to speak?' Morielta whispered. 'If you do feel the urge to say something then let me know.'

Morielta cut the sharp object into the root of Suigintou's wing. Suigintou began to struggle, but she instead found that if she tried to move, the pain of having something in her back just increased. 

Morielta then continued to pull Suigintou's right wing out of her back, just like she had done with the left wing.

When Suigintou's right wing was pulled out of her back, she continually screamed, struggling against the sludge. The pain from her back stung, and she began to sob, louder than she had before.

Morielta stood in front of her, cradling both of Suigintou's wings in her hands. The hall way was littered in feathers, and Scylla standing against a small table, simply watching the events that were displayed before her. 

Then the door suddenly shot open. 

'I'm home!' Rina yelled as she stared at the dolls, and then giant mess in the hallway.

'R…R…in…' Suigintou choked.

Rina suddenly screamed and ran out the door. 

'So much for that' Scylla said, rolling her eyes.

'Suigintou…are you going to surrender the Tipped Balance, or…maybe we could find some other way to make you talk.'

As Morielta said that, Rina returned to the door, this time armed with a garden hose.

'It seems there are some freaky dolls in my house! Scoot!' Rina yelled.

She pressed a button on the hose, and it began to spray water everywhere. Morielta instantly began to cower, and Scylla sighed, hoping her dress wouldn't run.

The sludge melted into a big puddle on the floor. 

Morielta then began to fade, and shortly after she disappeared completely. With the sludge now gone, Suiseseki, Souseseki and Joenna burst through the door. 

Suigintou's sludge bounds had vanished, and she turned away from her sisters and Joenna, not allowing them to see her crying face. Rina had run around the back in order to turn the hose off.

'My, my, it seems I'm quite out numbered here.' Scylla said mockingly. 

'Then why don't you just leave?' Souseseki said, summoning her shears and pointing them threateningly at Scylla.

'I always had to wonder…Why you lot were so aggressive? The blonde one came with out a fight.' Scylla said.

'Blonde one?' Joenna said, not realising what she had said until afterwards.

'You seriously don't know?' Scylla said with a smirk. 'Oh, but you're just an ordinary doll, of course you wouldn't know.'

Souseseki pointed her shears directly at Scylla's neck. 'Go on. Tell us about this 'blonde one'.'

Feeling threatened by the shears, and the death stares given by Suiseseki who was standing near by, she began to speak about the 'blonde one'.

'Well, not too long before I began pursuing you lot, there was this other blonde one, who we also suspected of being a Rozen Maiden. Anyway, I went into the house that she was staying at, ready for battle and everything. But when I threatened to kill her unless she came with me, she kept on saying weird things like 'Why are you doing this?' and 'Don't you feel any remorse for what you are doing?'. I just laughed at her and told her 'NO'. Then, I took her back to the master and he was so pleased with me.'

Scylla could see that Souseseki was distracted by her story, and she suddenly disappeared, in the same way Morielta had earlier.

The four dolls were silent, until Rina came back inside.

'Whew, that was tough! Do you guys think you could clean up?' Rina asked.

'Sure desu.' Suiseseki lifted her ring, and it started to glow a bright green. All the feathers, muck and water disappeared, and everything returned back to it's original states. 

Both the gardener twins noticed the absence of Suigintou's wings. Souseseki knelt down next to Suigintou.

'Do you want to heal yourself?' Souseseki asked.

'Yes, very much so. I'd like to do it without anyone present.' Suigintou said sadly.

Joenna, who was listening in on the conversation, walked up to Rina and tugged on her track pants.

'Rina, I'm hungry. Can we have some tea?' Joenna asked, putting on her most innocent look.

'OK then! It's lucky I changed from Anira to Rina at the Promo, or I wouldn't be able to!' Rina said happily.

Rina and Joenna went into the kitchen, and they were shortly followed by Suiseseki and Souseseki.

Now, Suigintou had to attempt the painful task of forcing her wings to grow. 

She took a deep breath, and began to transfer her power to where her wings were. The roots began to heal themselves, and Suigintou winced from the pain of having the wing root regrow deep within her back.

Slowly, a pair of very small wings began to sprout from her back. She expanded them until they were at normal size. 

Suigintou stood up and gently touched her right wing. She slipped her hand in her dress pocket, and breathed a sigh of relief when the Tipped Balance was still there. 

Suigintou turned to Rina's kitchen, wondering what the others had been up to while she was gone. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn wondered around the black mansion she lived in. Her two sisters were out doing, who-knows-what, and that meant that she was the only one in the entire mansion other than her master, who she was forbidden to see and the millions of lifeless dolls, kept in glass cabinets around the mansion. 

Lyn was walking up a hallway, that was lined on one side with a three rows of glass cabinets filled with dolls, that stretched right to the end of the hallway, and the other side there was a door every so often. She knew that behind those doors, there were more lifeless dolls, yet again in glass cabinets. There would be hundreds in one room, and considering the amount of rooms in the mansion, that was a lot of dolls.

The only rooms she knew of that had no dolls were her Master's office, which she could only go into if her Master called for her, her Master's bedroom, which she had been forbidden to go to under any circumstances and that room, the one that she had visited regularly. Until now. As the day had worn on, she had found herself more and more reluctant to go into that room.

Lyn stopped three rooms down from 'that room' and looked at the living dolls. They had been named living dolls, because they were supposed to be 'living'. But, of the millions of living dolls around her Master's house, the only living dolls that he owned that were actually 'alive', were herself and her two older sisters. 

She put her hands against the middle row glass cabinet. Staring back at her, were the lifeless burgundy eyes of a doll that her Master owned. A living doll, whose spring had never been wound, who had never 'lived'. 

Lyn knew the reason why she and her sisters were alive. They were different. Lyn and her sisters were the only three living dolls whose Rosa Mystica lasted more than three years. Their Rosa Mystica lasted five years, and they could do things that other living dolls couldn't. The three of them were at the top of their range, and they were the only three dolls of that sort that existed.

Until, however, the Master had heard sightings of the Rozen Maidens. The Rozen Maidens were THE ultimate living doll. Nothing could surpass them. So, he had picked his three most powerful and advanced living dolls to find the Rozen Maidens and capture them, using what ever means possible.

Lyn lowered her hand and continued to stare at the lifeless dolls. She knew that before the Master had heard reports about the Rozen Maiden sightings, she was once a lifeless doll, just like this one. 

She giggled. Maybe she owed the Rozen Maidens, because if they had never decided to show themselves, then she wouldn't be alive. And she would still be trapped, behind a glass wall, just like all the other dolls…

But once we have captured the Rozen Maidens, what will happen to us then? Will the Master still let us stay alive or…Will we have to sit behind the glass again, just like before? 

Her hand dropped from the glass cabinet, and she continued to walk towards 'that room'. As she walked, she stared at the floor, trying to avoid looking at the dolls. Even if 'that room' scared her, at least there were no lifeless dolls in there. 

She walked into 'that room' and shut the door. The room was almost entirely black, and there was only one object in there. An object that kept the rooms occupant in a constant state of dreaming. 

Lyn knelt down in front of the room's occupant. The room's occupant was a living doll, and she was sitting in a doll-sized Victorian-styled chair with red cushions. There was an instrument connected to her arm, that continually fed her a sleeping poison.

Lyn knew that this living doll was a Rozen Maiden. This Rozen Maiden looked no different to any of the other dolls in the glass cabinets. But Lyn knew that this Rozen Maiden was alive, barely, but still alive. With no medium, no rules to follow, no boundaries.

'To have that sort of freedom must be wonderful' Lyn thought to herself.

'_Don't think these thoughts Lyn. You once knew what freedom was. You can find it again.'_

Lyn knew, from what Scylla had bragged when she had brought this doll here, that this Rozen Maiden had decided not to fight Scylla, and had simply allowed herself to be captured. 

'Why do such a thing? Why not fight back? Is she a coward?' 

'_She did it out of bravery and pride, not cowardice.'_

'To have the option not to fight…Even that is something I don't have.'

'_If you wish not to fight, then tell the world that you will not. Be brave.'_

'No…Not yet.' Lyn thought to herself.

She sat in front of the Rozen Maiden and stared at her. Even if the Rozen Maiden could not move, or reply, Lyn felt the need to keep her company. After all, someone so used to being free would struggle in confinement. 

Lyn wondered what it would be like to be the blonde, curly haired doll dressed in crimson.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou sat with Rina, Joenna, Suiseseki and Souseseki at the table in Rina's kitchen. They had finished their afternoon tea and it wasn't long before they began to talk of the events that had happened earlier in the hallway.

'Well, obviously they were looking for the Tipped Balance so they could take it back and reuse it desu! What other reason could those evil dolls possibly want with the Tipped Balance desu?'

'As long as Suigintou keeps it safe, we won't have to worry about that.' Souseseki said. 'But then there is the other matter…Do you think that another Rozen Maiden is being held in captivity by that 'Master'?'

'Scylla could have been lying!' Joenna pointed out.

'I know, but the description was so accurate…The only living doll who's blonde, preaches about not fighting and that those three would have the slightest interest in, would be Shinku.' Suigintou said, her voice revealing an extreme annoyance.

Suiseseki stared at Suigintou. 'Are you having a hard time accepting that Shinku was captured desu?'

'No' Suigintou said. Then the anger in her voice heightened. ' It's just that Shinku could have AT LEAST TRIED to defend herself, but NO, it's always the 'You can't fight, it's bad' from her.' 

'Why doesn't Suigintou like Shinku?' Joenna asked innocently.

Suigintou began to feel a deep hatred, as she remembered all the reasons why she hated Shinku. 

'She has her reasons. It's very complicated.' Souseseki said nervously. 

'Oh, I just remembered.' Rina, who had previously been just listening, said to the dolls. 'Something weird happened at the Promo that you dolls might want to know about. The whole deal in the hallway made me forget about it.'

'What is it desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Well, I was at the Promo and I'd just finished my show. I was disguised as Anira of course, and I had just gotten off the stage.'

----Flashback----

'Great work Anira! Keep this up, and you'll soar to the top of the charts.' Anira's manager praised her.

'I'm only doing what I can!' Anira replied.

'Well keep it up girl, you're going good!'

'Thanks.'

Anira turned and walked towards the door that lead out of the wings, and into the dressing room area.

Suddenly, Anira was approached by a man, who looked like he was in his late 20's.

'That's some nice ring you've got there. Can I have a better look at it?'

'No!' Anira said confidently, quickly putting her left hand in her pocket. 'Now, there's somewhere I need to be, so if you'll excuse me…'

Anira tried to push past the man, but he stood in her way.

'Please, could I have a look at your ring?' 

'I already told you, no!' Anira yelled. 'If you don't stop this me, I'll get someone to call security.'

'Anira, is this man causing you trouble?' her manager asked.

'Yes, he was. Could you please get someone to take him out of here?' Anira asked.

'Sure thing. Hey, we've got an intruder over here!' Anira's manager yelled.

As soon as Anira's manager had said this, three security guards appeared and the man was handcuffed and lead away.

----End of Flashback----

'And then I headed back into the dressing room to get changed.' Rina concluded.

'What did this man look like desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'All I remember about him, was that he looked like he was about 29.' Rina said. 'His clothing hid most of his personal features.'

'This man recognised your medium's ring. Which means that he must know about Rozen Maidens, to some degree.' Souseseki said, deep in thought. 'At least when you are disguised as Anira, no one will know who you really are, or how to track you down.'

'Thank goodness for that.' Rina breathed a sigh of relief.

'It sounds like lots of people are interested in you guys.' Joenna stated.

Suigintou stared up at the clock and realised what the time was. 

'Oh dear, idiot will be getting worried if I don't return soon.' Suigintou sighed. 'I better be going.'

'Ok then! Please visit us soon!' Joenna said happily.

Suigintou did a double take. 'You never told me she was going to live with you! You just said that she was a guest!' 

Rina giggled, nervously. 'Well, her medium is a friend of mine, and he's going away for the week. He'll be back to collect her for her tournament match on Saturday.' 

Suigintou turned to Suiseseki and Souseseki. 'I can't decide who is more stupid; Your medium or mine.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou was in his room, doing some more research into the Rozen Maiden legend. He sat at his desk, browsing the internet for more information.

'_The seven Rozen Maidens fought, often to the death, and the winner would take the loser's Rosa Mystica. Once a doll had all seven Rosa Mystica, they could become Alice and meet their Father, Rozen, who they were fighting for in the first place.' _Rikou read from the website. 'Wow…That sounds…vicious.' 

'But I wonder why Rozen would force his daughters to fight like that? And from what I have seen of Suigintou and the Gardener twins, the only fighting they ever do is against those evil dolls. Uniting against a common enemy? Perhaps…'

'By the way, where is she? I haven't seen her all day.' Rikou said to himself. 

At that moment, Suigintou appeared at the window. Rikou instantly closed out of the website he had been reading and turned to face Suigintou. She stood on the window ledge, opened the window and closed it.

'Suigintou?' Rikou said, crossing his arms.

'Hmm…?' Suigintou replied, sitting herself on the bed,

'Where were you? First, you just left with out any notice, then Scylla and her companion visited me with threats to kill me if I didn't tell them where you were, then this ring started feeling really hot and painful. I knew that you were in trouble…I do worry, you know.'

'You don't need to worry I am always fine. I can handle myself in those situations.' Suigintou said calmly, brushing the invisible dust off her dress. 'Did Scylla and Morielta really give you a visit?'

'Yes, and I almost got killed.' Rikou said.

'I see…' Suigintou said deep in thought.

'Next time you go out, could you please at least tell me where you're going?'

'Fine.' Suigintou said with a sigh. 'But I'm not doing anything else for you.'

'Really?' Rikou asked.

'What do you want now?' Suigintou asked, rolling her eyes.

'Mirien is having dinner right now, and I was just about to join her. I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to eat?'

'…Perhaps I will join you. Idiot, open the door.' 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

For all of you who can't connect up the clues, here we have the long waited sorta-kinda re-introduction of Shinku. There are many clues in this chap to what will be happening during the next few chapters. Hooray for PLOT!

How long has it been since I last put a chapter up? I've just been so busy lately, so this fanfic haven't been top priority.

But other good news! This chapter sets the new record for being the longest chapter so far at 5991 words, not including this A/N the previous record was 'Morielta' at 4052 words. I also got more reviews from the last chapter than before, so I am incredibly happy! Stay tuned for the next chapter, with even more PLOT than before!


	13. My Dearest Conscious

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna. 

**Chapter 13**

Suigintou sat on top of a giant sky scraper in the middle of the city. She enjoyed the view from these tall skyscrapers, and this was the reason why she visited them often.

On this occasion, Suigintou had gone out because she had nothing better to do. Rikou and Mirien had gone to school, so there was nothing to do in their apartment other than watch television. But she found that boring and a waste of her time.

So, she sat on the edge of the skyscraper, swinging her legs. She let the wind play with her hair, and she could feel the feathers fall off her wings and scatter around her.

Once she decided she had had enough of the view from the sky scraper, she stood up and took flight.

'This city is so boring.' Suigintou thought to herself. 

Then, as she was passing some alleyways, some loud voices caught her attention.

'You don't deserve to live, you were scrap in the first place!'

'Yeah, dude, like, she was totally useless.'

Suigintou found where the voices were coming from, and saw a small group of about six boys and girls bashing up a white-blonde haired, blue eyed living doll.

'So, like, should she beg for mercy, or what?'

'She wasn't useful anyway! She doesn't deserve anything!'

Suigintou watched as the ringleader, a teenaged boy, kicked her repeatedly in the stomach.

'If you wanna live, then beg for your life! Beg! Beg!...'

The rest of the group joined in, repeatedly chanting the word 'Beg!' at the doll. 

'S…So…' The doll sniffled, tears running down her cheeks. 'Sor…r…Sor…'

'Talk louder, I can't hear ya!' The ringleader yelled, yet again kicking her in the stomach. 

Suigintou froze. She didn't know what she should do. If she decided to help the doll, the doll might live, but she would also risk revealing her identity to the group of teenagers.

But that wasn't all that froze her. The doll was fairly beaten, naked, and too weak to defend herself. Seeing this reminded Suigintou of someone she used to know. Someone she used to be.

The pain of Suigintou's earliest memories, of being naked, alone and frightened had faded over time. But, even if the pain had faded, it was still there.

Suigintou covered her ears as the beaten doll's screams brought back horrible memories of her most painful screams. Suigintou wanted to move away from here, and force the memories of her early torture to the back of her mind. But she could not. 

'She's nearly dead anyway. Let's go guys! We've got other things to do.'

When the ringleader said this, her thoughts snapped back to the scene unfolding before her.

'Hey, dude, like, aren't you gonna take your medium ring off?'

'Nah. If I take it off she'll just die. If I leave it on, she'll suffer more, and that's what she deserves.'

'What ever you say, dude.'

The group had too far away for Suigintou to hear the rest of the conversation.

She turned back to the doll who could barely keep her eyes open.

'A…An…g…el…' The doll croaked.

She reached forward, with her hand stretched towards Suigintou.

'Don't be stupid. I'm a living doll, just like you.' Suigintou replied.

The doll shook her head. 'Li…v…living do…dolls don…don't fl…fl…y. Yo…You must be…a…an angel.'

Suigintou walked towards the doll, and stood in front of her. She then lifted up her sleeve, showing the ball joint in her wrist.

'See? I'm just like you.' 

'An…g…gel…' the doll whispered.

'Fine, believe what you like.' Suigintou said with sigh.

Suigintou sat in front of this doll. This doll, right now, reminded Suigintou very much of herself, in her earliest days.

'Ang…el?' the doll said.

'What?'

'Before…Before I g…go, ca…n I please te…tell you my na…name?' 

'Go ahead.' Suigintou replied.

'Yuki. I wa…was nam…named after my ma…masters dead s…sister.' 

'You won't die unless he take his ring off.' Suigintou said.

'I thi…think I'll get pre…pretty clo…se.' 

Yuki closed her eyes and smiled. 

'I…was…n't w…orth mu…ch.'

'…Junk…'

Yuki shrugged. 'I gu…guess s…so.'

Yuki then turned to Suigintou. 'A…Angel?'

'What?' 

'D…Do li…living dolls go t…to heaven?'

Suigintou did not want to answer, but she considering Yuki's circumstance, did so anyway.

'They might.'

'Hmmm…' Yuki closed her eyes. 

Yuki did not speak for about a quarter of an hour, and when she didn't, it was Suigintou's que to leave.

She took flight again, thinking about what had happened. How many other dolls out there had been abandoned, like Yuki had? Did people consider them as beings with souls, or just inanimate objects that acted human?

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn sat in front of the crimson-dressed doll, and took a few sips of the tea she was drinking. She spent a lot of time with the Rozen Maiden, although she couldn't respond when Lyn was talking to her.

Lyn put the cup down on the saucer that was on the ground. She realised that although the Rozen Maiden had been here for a quite a long time, she had no idea what her name was. Other than her two older sisters, and herself, she did not know the name of any of the living dolls scattered around the mansion. 

Lyn knew that the nametags for the lifeless dolls were put underneath them, so there was no possible way that she could have seen them without touching the dolls, and that was something she was not allowed to do. 

Morielta and Scylla were out again, and as her master only came out of his quarters on rare occasions, Lyn had nothing to do other than keep the Rozen Maiden company.

Lyn stared up at the roof. 

'I must look quite silly, talking to something I know isn't going to respond.'

'_What are you going to do then?'_

'I don't really know…'

Lyn's focus shifted back to the Rozen Maiden and stared down at the device that kept her in a constant sleeping state.

Lyn knew how this device worked. After all, she had helped design it. 

Lyn decided to do something she was forbidden to do. She reached out to the device and began to fiddle with the settings. Within a few seconds, Lyn had changed the sleeping poison activation setting to 'Low'. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou flew back to Rikou's apartment, and let herself in through the window. She was still thinking of the events that had happened that morning.

'Do living dolls really get abandoned that often?' Suigintou thought to herself. 

Suddenly, a wave of pain shot through her, as her memories came flooding back to her. Images of her broken body lying upon the shelf, her Father smiling, always smiling but the smiles were never directed at her. His eyes taunting her, and almost challenging her, as she tried to reach out towards him.

Then, he left. And she fell. Her mind going blank, as her chin hit the floor.

Suigintou snapped back to reality. She was breathing heavily, and was still shaking. 

'I need to distract myself.' She thought, as she turned on the TV and began to flick through the channels. 

'who is still facing _**Abandonment**_ issues...'

'tried to _**Mock**_ me?'

'had been _**Tormented**_ both …'

'takes your _**Junk**_ away…'

Suigintou punched the TV, breaking the screen and causing the sound to become fuzzy. She then knocked it off the stand, causing it to smash into the floor, beyond all repair. 

Suigintou felt something dark rise up from inside her. She turned around and smashed her wings into Rikou's desk, causing it to collapse and everything on top of it came crashing to the ground. 

Suigintou turned to the wardrobe and opened it. 'Stupid human.' She whispered. 

She then slammed her wings into the side of it, and it fell, blocking the doorway. The top of the wardrobe hit the dresser, which fell over on its side and hit the bed, with such force, that it cracked on impact. Then, it split where the crack had been made. 

She walked over to the coffee table and sat down at it. Suigintou had never been invited to sit at a table with anyone…until yesterday.

'Stupid.' She remarked at the meal she had shared with her medium and his sister.

Suigintou stared around the room she had just destroyed. She turned towards the coffee table. 

'IT'S JUST BECAUSE HE'S SO STUPID.' She yelled. She grabbed the coffee table and flipped it over, causing anything on it to fall to crash to the floor. She summoned her sword and began to hack at the legs of the upside down coffee table. 

'…That's right Suigintou. He's pretending to be naive because he doesn't want to face the truth.' A voice inside her head began to taunt her.

'NO! NO! LEAVE ME BE!' Suigintou screamed, as she finished off the coffee table.

'You're just worthless junk.'

'NO! I'm…I'm…' Suigintou whimpered.

'Nobody cares about you…Even your own father believes that you have no worth…junk.'

'NEVER!' Suigintou screamed.

'It's only the truth. You are a coward for not facing it.'

'SHUT UP!' Suigintou stood up and began thrashing around the room with her sword. 'WHERE ARE YOU? I'LL KILL YOU!'

'You can't hurt me, I live within you.'

'I don't believe you! SHOW YOURSELF!' Suigintou yelled.

Tears streamed down Suigintou's cheeks, as she began to destroy the everything in that room.

Suigintou gave up trying to seek out the voice, and finally collapsed, in a heap on the floor. She was still sobbing, her hands trying to wipe away tears.

When, she had calmed down, she sat back on her knees. Suigintou clutched her dress, and tried to stop herself from sobbing even further.

'…Junk…'

'LEAVE ME ALONE!' Suigintou yelled. Picking up her sword, and throwing it out the window. 

The window smashed, and glass went everywhere. 

Suigintou curled up in a ball, and began to cry. 

'I do enjoy seeing you in discomfort…'

'SHUT UP AND GO AWAY!' Suigintou screamed. 

'You are ruined Suigintou…'

'Get away…'Suigintou whimpered. 'Leave me.'

'_Suigintou, are you okay?'_

Suigintou's head shot up, and looked around. That voice was different to the one she had heard before. This voice seemed oddly…familiar…Where had she heard it before?

The intense thudding in her head, from her headache, was causing her to loose her focus. She was beginning to feel extremely lightheaded. 

Soon, everything began to spin…Suigintou felt herself fall backwards, and could do nothing to stop herself from hitting the floor. Suddenly everything went black.

If she had been awake, she would have felt an invisible hand touch her cheek.

'_Suigintou…'_

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn had waited for about an hour, before she saw the first signs of life. The Rozen Maiden began to flinch, and was attempting to open her eyes. 

Once the Rozen Maiden had managed to open her eyes, she found herself staring directly at Lyn. She began to gaze around the room, in order to take in her new surroundings.

Lyn could see that the Rozen Maiden was confused. 

'Rozen Maiden, look at me.' Lyn said firmly, as the Rozen Maiden turned towards Lyn. 'Firstly, if anyone else other than myself comes in this room, close your eyes and pretend that you're sleeping. Do not move, even a small movement will give yourself away. Do I make myself clear?'

The Rozen Maiden nodded weakly.

'So, Rozen Maiden, what is your name?'

'…I don't remember.' The Rozen Maiden replied hazily.

'The effect of the sleeping poison must not have fully worn off yet.' Lyn said with a sigh. 

'What are…you?' The Rozen Maiden asked.

'I'm a living doll! Just like y…' Lyn re-thought the statement she was about to make. 'A living doll, similar to you, but not the same.'

'There are more…living dolls than…before…' 

Lyn had no idea what the Rozen Maiden was talking about. Before? Living dolls had always been around. 

'The Rozen Maidens were probably made a long time ago.' Lyn thought to herself. 

'So, do you remember who you are yet?'

The Rozen Maiden's expression told Lyn that she was straining herself to remember.

'Fifth.' The Rozen Maiden replied. 'I was…fifth.'

'Fifth?' Lyn said to herself. 'That doesn't help much…Unless that's what your name was. Is 'fifth' your name?'

'Part…of it…I think…' The Rozen Maiden replied.

'Why don't you go back to sleep? You will probably need some natural sleep.' Lyn told her.

'Is there tea here?'

'Yeah, but I have to make it myself, if you don't mind that.' Lyn replied. 'Do you like tea?'

The Rozen Maiden 'fifth' was asleep. 

Lyn sighed. She picked up the tray she had brought her tea in with, and walked out the room with it. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou felt horrible. When she had recovered from her loss of consciousness, she realised that she had wasted a large amount of her power, and that cleaning up her medium's room would waste even more of her power. Still, she had decided to fix up her medium's room back to its original state.

After the room was fixed, Suigintou crawled onto the bed and lay down in order to rest, and regain her power. Soon afterwards, she had fallen to sleep.

About half an hour later, Rikou and Mirien came home from school. Rikou walked into his room, and dumped his bag near the door. 

'Why is school always so tiring?' He asked himself, as he sat down on the desk chair.

Rikou looked around his room, and spotted Suigintou sleeping on his bed. He walked over to the bed and knelt beside it. 

He reached out and touched her cheek.

'Wow, she's softer than she looks.' He thought.

Suigintou raised her hand while she was still sleeping, and attempted to swat his hand away from her face.

Rikou's smirked, because he found Suigintou's action quite cute. He instantly moved his hand away from her, went over to his desk and began doing his homework. 

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou was having a peaceful dream. Her soul was transported to her dream world, where she rested in the church of her ghost town, with her head against the altar.

Suigintou stared up at the roof. Small sections of the roof were missing, allowing small fractions of dim light into the church. Of all the buildings in her ghost town, she found the church the most welcoming, although anyone else would have thought this was an overstatement.

She then heard footsteps coming from behind her, walking slowly towards her. Suigintou turned, and she saw a shadow emerge from one of the hallways at the end of the church. The figure was roughly the same size as she was.

She stood up and turned to face the figure. 

'Who are you, and what are you doing in my dreamscape?'

There was no reply.

Suigintou summoned her sword. 'Answer me!' 

The figure kept walking towards her at the slow, but steady pace that it had been since Suigintou had first heard it.

Suddenly, the pace began to quicken. Suigintou held her sword in front of her.

'Who are you, and what do you want with me?'

The figure stepped through a patch of light that had come down from the roof. Suigintou gasped as she realised who it was that she was dealing with. 

'W…W…' She was speechless against the figure that approached her. 

Suigintou was somewhat scared of the figure that approached her. The figure seemed somewhat… different from when Suigintou had last seen her.

Soon, the figure had Suigintou backed up against the church wall. Suigintou tried to put her sword between the figure and herself, but the figure simply pushed it aside, and it fell to the floor.

Suigintou was frozen, and she did not know what she could do. She simply complied, as the figure embraced her. The figure was cold to touch, and Suigintou drew a quick breath as she wrapped her arms around Suigintou's shoulders. 

And then, she was gone. Just as quickly as she had appeared, the figure had just…vanished. Suigintou was still shocked at what had just happened. 

'…Shinku?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

This chapter is shorter than some of the previous ones I have written, but see how much PLOT there is! No cameos from Sui and Sou's household, as this was a more serious chapter and was filled with PLOT.

Have any of you ever found that you get a period of mass workload, then a period of lack of work, then a period of mass workload etc? This is what I have found…


	14. A Reason To Hurt

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna. 

**Chapter 14**

It was early morning, on the next day, which was a Tuesday. Instead of occupying herself with attempts to capture rare dolls, Lyn headed for the kitchen, and then straight for the room where the 'fifth' was kept. The fifth, of course, was pretending to be lifeless. 

'You can stop pretending, it's only me.'

The 'fifth' opened her eyes. 'I see.'

'I made some tea. I usually drink it in the mornings. Do you want some?'

The Rozen Maiden nodded, and Lyn began pouring the tea.

'So, do you remember what your real name is yet? It would be nice to call you something when I talk to you.' Lyn handed the Rozen Maiden a cup of tea.

'Yes. My name is Shinku, the fifth Rozen Maiden.' Shinku took a sip from her tea.

'I knew that natural sleep would help.' Lyn said. 

'So, from what I gather, you work for the same person as my captor?' Shinku asked.

'You mean Scylla? She is my older sister, and yes, we work for the same person. The only other doll that works for our master is Morielta, who is also my older sister.' Lyn replied.

'What was the purpose of capturing me?' Shinku asked.

'Have you lived in our society?' Lyn asked back.

'Yes, I have.' Shinku replied.

'You would have noticed that there are many living dolls. My master is a collector, and he collects rare dolls. Rozen Maidens are extremely rare, and they are, apparently, only a myth.'

'But if he is a collector, and if that was all that he wanted me for, then why would he bother keeping me alive?' Shinku thought.

'You think that there is another reason?' Lyn asked.

'I'm not too sure.' Shinku gazed around the room. 'Where have your sister's been all this time? They came into this room once, and that was yesterday.'

Lyn giggled. 'They are too busy trying to capture your sisters…And failing horribly while they're at it.' 

Shinku's eyes lit up. 'Some of my other sisters are awake?'

'Yes.' Lyn replied. 'I don't know who they are, as I only saw them once.'

'If you saw them, do you know what they look like?' Shinku asked.

'Yes, I do know they look like.' Lyn said. 'Do you want me to describe them for you?'

Shinku nodded.

'Well, there are three that I have seen.' Lyn said. 'The one that we learnt of first, other than you, has kind of silvery hair, wears mostly black and her most distinctive feature is her wings. Then we discovered two others. One has long brown hair and wears a green dress, and the other has short red hair and seems like a tomboy. Both of those two have one green eye, and one red eye.'

'The dolls you have described are definitely Suigintou, Suiseseki and Souseseki.' Shinku said. 'Do they fight each other or keep their distance?'

'The three of them seem to be working together for some reason.' Lyn replied. 'My thinking, is that they united against a common enemy, which would be my sisters and I.'

Shinku sighed. 'That's good to hear. But, if the three of you are so determined to capture us, then why are you with me, instead of with them?'

'I'm not that interested in capturing your sisters, because I know that when Master captures you all, you will replace us, and that means going to sleep and never waking up. And I wanted some company, so I woke you up.' Lyn told Shinku.

Shinku leaned over to put her teacup back on the tray. 'So, we would replace you?'

'The Rozen Maiden's are the most sought after dolls in the entire world. If my Master manages to capture all of you, then we would become secondary. The other dolls in this mansion that are secondary to us are proof of what will happen if he attains you all.'

Shinku looked confused. Lyn realised that Shinku had never been outside that room in the mansion, so she would have no idea what she was talking about.

'Well, I'm already breaking enough rules, one more won't hurt.' Lyn thought.

Lyn slipped the device off Shinku's arm. 'I'm going to give you a tour of the mansion. I am quite sure we won't run into anyone on the way, as my sister's are busy and Master hardly ever ventures out his room or office.'

Shinku stood and brushed the 'dust' off her skirt. 'Fine then. Where do we begin?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou had spent the entire morning deep in thought, and considering the unusual events that had happened yesterday, she had every right to want to think things over. 

Just like yesterday, Rikou and Mirien were at school, so she had the entire apartment to herself. She lay on the bed in Rikou's room, and stared up at the ceiling. 

'Who was that taunting me back then?' She thought to herself. 'I've heard that voice before in the previous Alice Game era. The voice said that they lived inside me, what's with that? As far as I know, I'm the only one inhabiting my body.' 

Suigintou tried to remember the voice, in an attempt to identify who it was. The voice sounded cold, and neither high pitched, or low pitched. The voice didn't match anyone that Suigintou knew. And the fact that someone Suigintou did not know had access to her thoughts and memories, and even had the power to manipulate her, scared her a lot. 

But the voice that had tried to comfort her was definitely someone Suigintou knew. The voice that had asked her whether she was okay, was one she would have recognised straight away, if she hadn't been so light headed at the time. 

'The second voice was definitely Shinku's.' Suigintou thought to herself. 

The realisation that the second voice was Shinku's would have been a shock to Suigintou, if Shinku's 'spirit' had not decided to pay her a visit in her dream world later on. 

'Is it really that easy to invade my mind?' Suigintou thought with a chuckle. 

Suigintou sat up and looked around. 'Well, I really have nothing else to do, and I may as well report the current happenings to my beloved sisters.' She said sarcastically.

She opened the window, and took flight.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou arrived at Rina's house and was happy that the window to Rina's bedroom was unlocked. She stepped inside, only to find herself dodging a blue crayon. 

'Suiseseki give that back, now I won't be able to finish the sky!' Joenna wailed. 

'Weeeeellllll….BAD LUCK DESU!' Suiseseki cackled. 'Because it just set sail out the window…' 

Suiseseki turned and realised that Suigintou was leaning against the window sill with her arms crossed. 

'I just love being part of the scenery, perhaps I should do it more often?' Suigintou said sarcastically.

'I'm sorry Suigintou, I had no idea you had arrived desu.' 

'That's because you were too busy stealing my crayons.' Joenna blubbered. 

'I wasn't stealing them! I was borrowing them and disposing of them in an unusual fashion desu!' Suiseseki pouted.

'You were stealing them!'

'I was not desu!'

'You were so!'

'I was not desu!'

'Did I arrive at a bad time?' Suigintou sighed.

Suddenly Suiseseki grabbed Suigintou and pulled her down from the window sill, so that she was standing in front of Suiseseki.

'What do you think you're…?' Suigintou yelled.

'See! My big sister Suigintou will protect my eyes from your stupid drawings desu!' Suiseseki yelled.

'E…Excuse me? You can't just…?' Suigintou said.

'You're all so mean! I hate you all!' Joenna crossed her arms and pouted. 

'Joenna, I was never against you, so stop blubbering and pull yourself together!' Suigintou said confidently.

'So you're on HER side now desu!' Suiseseki yelled at Suigintou. 'How dare you betray me desu!'

'H…Hang on…' Suigintou stuttered.

'I don't want to listen to your excuses desu!'Suiseseki put her hands on her hips. 

'Now, wait a second!' Suigintou yelled. 'I'm not the one jumping to random conclusions! I refuse to be blamed just so you can solve your petty arguments!'

'Well then, chose which side you're on then! Mine or hers!' Suiseseki yelled.

Suigintou faced a dilemma. Whichever doll she chose, the other would get upset. 

'Wait, what were they fighting over anyway?' Suigintou thought to herself. 'Crayons? Such idiots.'

'I'm not taking sides.' Was her eventual answer.

'You have to! Choose!' Joenna yelled at Suigintou.

'I'm not picking between you over something so stupid, and like it or not, that's my decision!' Suigintou barked at the two of them. 

Joenna began to cry over being yelled at, but Suiseseki bubbled with anger.

'So that's your final decision is it desu! You have no faith that either of us is telling the truth, although I'm obviously the one that isn't lying desu!' Suiseseki replied.

'You seriously expect me to choose between you over something like missing crayons?' Suigintou rebutted.

'Shinku would have!' Suiseseki yelled.

'Shinku, Shinku, Shinku! If you haven't noticed, I AM NOT SHINKU AND I NEVER WILL BE!' Suigintou fumed. 'Don't you DARE EVER compare me with Shinku again!' 

The door to the room opened, and Souseseki stumbled into the room.

'I heard yelling, is everyone…Suigintou?' Souseseki stared directly at her. 'I knew you could never be trusted.'

'Don't just assume things, you don't know what happened.' Suigintou said, trying to contain her anger.

'I know for sure that you were yelling at them, I could hear you from downstairs.' Souseseki stated. 'And when I came up here, I find Joenna crying in one corner, and Suiseseki about ready to blow in the other!' 

'No matter what conclusions you may jump to, Souseseki, I didn't do anything to harm Suiseseki or Joenna.'

Souseseki turned to Joenna. 'Did Suigintou do anything to you?'

Joenna pointed at Suigintou. 'She won't choose sides!'

Souseseki was clearly confused by this. 'Sides?'

Suigintou sighed. 'Suiseseki was throwing crayons out the window, and I so happened to drop in on their argument.'

'Suiseseki…' Souseseki turned to face her twin.

'I…It wasn't me desu!' Suiseseki stuttered. 'Joenna was calling me names desu!'

'No I wasn't.' Joenna sobbed.

'She called me a fat pig desu!' Suiseseki yelled.

'Only because you started stealing my crayons!' Joenna yelled back.

Suigintou sighed, and stared down at the floor. Souseseki suddenly grabbed her wrist and began to drag her towards the door. As soon as they were out the room, Souseseki closed the door.

'I'm glad to be out of there…' Souseseki sighed. 

Souseseki turned to Suigintou, who was leaning against the wall. 'That wasn't all, was it? You would not have yelled otherwise.'

'…Suiseseki compared me with Shinku, and I…guess I overreacted a bit…' Suigintou stuttered.

'You still don't like Shinku that much do you?'

'No. I know now what she thinks of me.' Suigintou sighed. 'She once told me I did not deserve to have sisters. I've never been the 'sisterly' type, and perhaps if she had not been so easily fooled, she would not have said it. But, that only implies what little faith she has in me…'

Souseseki did not know what to say. But she did not need to say anything, as soon after Suigintou had finished, Joenna and Suiseseki began to scream. 

Souseseki sighed, and opened the door. 'What now…?'

Suddenly, Souseseki was pushed against the hallway wall by a black, slimy column. 

'D…damn it…' Souseseki muttered.

Suigintou instantly summoned her sword, and began to hack at the slime that was trying to attack her. 

Suigintou tried to cut the slime in the direction that Joenna's screams were coming from. Suiseseki had ceased screaming, and Suigintou assumed this was because Suiseseki was busy trying to water the slime down. 

Suigintou knew she was right, when a huge gush of water slammed into her. Majority of the slime evaporated before her, and she was soaking wet. She saw Suiseseki and Joenna in the middle of the room, and both of them were also drenched. Souseseki had finished her battle with the slime, but she was barely wet at all. Her shears were summoned, and she pointed them threateningly at the two intruders standing at the window.

'Morielta, try not to get too carried away. We have little time to waste.' Scylla giggled leaning against the window.

Morielta shrugged at her younger sister's comment. 'Fine, I'll let you do all the talking.'

Scylla looked at the four dolls, one at a time, before her eyes fell on Suigintou. 

'Oh, how is my dearest black angel? Recovered already from having your wings ripped out?' Scylla laughed.

'You call me that one more time, and I'll murder you!' Suigintou yelled.

'Such a temper you have there sweetie, we may need to do something about that.' Scylla taunted. 

Scylla whispered something to Morielta, and Morielta clapped her hands. 

Some slime that has been hidden outside, raised an unconscious figure, that had been tied up by the slime, into the view out the window. 

Suigintou gasped as she realised who it was. 

'RIKOU!' She screamed. 

'Don't get so emotional, dear!' Scylla said. 'We came here to make a deal with the three Rozen Maidens.'

'State your business!' Souseseki yelled.

'I know you three won't go down without a fight.' Scylla said. 'So let's make a wager. The three of you come to our mansion, and we'll battle. If you win, then Rikou goes free, and you can all go home. If you lose, I want all three of you to surrender your lives to us, and Rikou still gets to go free. If you don't decide to show, then the boy dies.'

'But there's only two of you, and there's three of us.' Souseseki stated. 'Are you sure you want to battle us?'

Scylla opened her hand and counted on her fingers. 'Morielta, Myself, and Lyn. That's three against three. We'll give you five days to make your decision. Come anytime during the five day period, but after that, he dies. We'll be waiting…'

Both Morielta and Scylla, as well as the slime that held Rikou, began to vanish, and then disappeared. 

There was a scroll of paper left behind on the windowsill. Suigintou picked it up and opened it. 

_36 Rosellia Avenue, Everdale_

Souseseki stood next to her and read it aloud.

'It's an address!' Joenna shrieked. 'Everdale is a suburb in this town!'

'That must be where the mansion is.' Souseseki said, deep in thought.

'But…' Suiseseki had not moved, and was still trembling. 'What should we do desu?' 

'We go and fight of course!' Suigintou yelled.

'But what if we lose desu? We have no idea what powers Lyn has, and they may use the mansion as a home advantage desu!'

'I don't care.' Suigintou told her. 'Whether you two decide to come with me or not, I'm going.'

'If you are going to go, then I'll go with you.' Souseseki stated. 'What do you say Suiseseki? You can stay back here if you want to. I'm sure that they won't say no to a three-two advantage.'

'W…well' Suiseseki pouted. 'Well, of course I'm coming with you desu! How can you even think that your beloved sister would leave you in the clutches of an evil force desu!' 

Souseseki giggled, and Suigintou rolled her eyes. 

'Should we decide on when we should go?' Suigintou sighed.

'Perhaps in three days time?' Souseseki suggested. 'That should give us enough time to prepare. Just in case they go back on their word, I insist you stay with us for the time being. Being alone and without a medium present would be dangerous.' 

'…Perhaps.' Suigintou sighed. 'I will need to get my things though.'

'I'll go with you desu!' Suiseseki walked over to her case and pushed the lid open. She sat inside and the case began to levitate.

'I had better stay here with Joenna.' Souseseki said. 'Come back safely.'

'You can count on it desu!' Suiseseki gave a thumbs up. 'Come on Suigintou, we have your things to gather!' 

Suiseseki flew out the broken window. Suigintou turned back to Souseseki and Joenna, shrugged her shoulders, and began to fly after Suiseseki.

There was a moment of silence between Souseseki and Joenna, before Souseseki spoke up.

'Was it only me that was shocked by Suiseseki's sudden enthusiasm?'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'So now do you know what I mean?' Lyn asked Shinku.

'There are so many…' Shinku gasped.

Lyn sighed. It seemed to her that Shinku was probably more shocked at how many lifeless living dolls her Master owned, rather than the fact that they were lifeless. 

'So, so many…' 

Her point was proven as soon as Shinku said this, and Lyn smacked her forehead with her hand.

'But you do know what I mean though, with the whole replacement thing?' Lyn asked. 'When my sisters are finished collecting you all, I become like one of them.' 

'I understand that.' Shinku replied. 

'It's probably best if you went sit back on the chair, in case one of my sister's decides to show up.' Lyn suggested.

'I suppose…' Shinku sighed. She sat back in the chair, and fastened the device back onto her arm. Shinku then closed her eyes and sat incredibly still. If Lyn hadn't known otherwise, she would have believed that Shinku was actually unconscious.

'Well, at least she's good at acting.' Lyn thought.

Then her sisters Scylla and Morielta burst into the room.

'Triumph is ours!' Scylla announced.

'Why? Have you captured another Rozen Maiden?' While Lyn had lead Shinku around the mansion, Shinku had given her detailed descriptions of her sisters, and their past life. If Lyn ever saw this 'Hina Ichigo', she would recognise her instantly. 

'Not exactly!' Scylla said happily. 'We found the perfect lure though!' 

'I don't understand you…' Lyn said.

'Well, we kidnapped the black angel's medium on his way to school. He was so weak!' Scylla laughed. 'Anyway, we made a deal with them, that sometime during the next five days, they could come here and battle us.'

'You gave them our address?' Lyn said, shocked. 'You know you aren't supposed to!' 

Then Lyn remembered all the rules she was breaking, and considered that what Scylla was doing wouldn't even be punishable compared to her crimes, if she was ever discovered.

'Don't worry about what I just said, continue.' Lyn said.

Scylla narrowed her eyes. '…Ok then. Anyway, three of the Rozen Maiden's are going to battle the three of us. And…'

'You told them I was going to battle them, with out even asking me first?' Lyn yelled.

'What's wrong with you Lyn?' Morileta asked. 'You should be glad to participate in this.'

'Oh, yes I am.' Lyn said sarcastically. 'What were the conditions?'

'If we win, the Rozen Maiden's stay here, like that one over there and the boy goes free.' Morielta said, gesturing in Shinku's direction. 'If they win, the boy goes with them. If they don't show up, then the boy dies.'

'You're going to kill him?' Lyn asked, shocked.

'Of course! You've killed humans before to get ahold of rare dolls! Scylla yelled. 'What's wrong with this one being killed? We're only going to poison him, so it'll be less painful then other methods we've used before. Are you sick Lyn? Seriously, there is something wrong with you.'

Lyn shook her head. 'No, no, no, nothing wrong with me! I'm so glad that you made that deal, imagine how pleased the Master will be with us!' 

'That sounds more like you!' Scylla said. 'Get some sleep, you'll need it for the battle.'

Scylla and Morielta left the room, leaving Lyn alone with Shinku. 

Shinku opened her eyes and stared at Lyn. 'Are you really going to battle my sisters?'

'Of course not!' Lyn said. 'I have other plans, as to what WE'll be doing during the battle…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

After a short writer's block, I've finally finished this glorious chapter. So much plot! 

It's a long public holiday, so expect another chapter shortly after this one!

Also, it's taken me this long, but only just now I have realised the 'breaks' I put in don't work. So, I'm trying to fix that problem. 


	15. With Every Life, There is Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 15**

Suiseseki and Suigintou arrived at Rikou and Mirien's apartment shortly after they left. Suiseseki lived up to her usual habit of smashing through the windows on her arrival as a visitor. Suigintou followed her in, through the broken window.

'So is that your case down here then desu?' Suiseseki asked, pointing to the case that was lying on the floor.

'Yes.' Suigintou said.

Suddenly Mirien burst through the door. 'Who is it who dare break the win…dow? Oh, it's you Suigintou…'

Mirien stared in disgust at the living doll. 'Who is that?' She seethed. 'Now Suigintou, I may have approved of your presence in this household, but if you start bringing more of your kind here, I'll have to kick you out. You know I can't stand living dolls.'

Suigintou sighed. 'Mirien, this is my younger sister Suiseseki, she is the third Rozen Maiden. She was only accompanying me here, we will be gone shortly.'

'Gone? Are you moving out?' Mirien asked.

'Hopefully, it's only for a few days.' Suigintou said with a sigh. 'Until things get sorted out.'

'Well, before you go, do you know where my brother is?' Mirien asked. 'I was waiting for him outside his home-class, but when the class filed out he wasn't there. When I asked the teacher where he was, they said he had been gone since lunch break! I'm starting to get very worried about him. If he's is still missing after 24 hours, I'm supposed to call the police, but I'm so worried…'

'Mirien, you must not tell anyone else this, but…' Suigintou took a deep breath. 'He was kidnapped by those dolls who attacked us on the weekend.'

'Freaky snake girl?' Mirien's eyes widened.

'Yes. It happened around midday, so that would be around lunch break.' Suigintou stated.

'Then we should call the police! This is serious, this is…'

'No! The dolls made a wager with us. We are going to go and battle them at their base, and whether we win or lose, Rikou goes free. So you don't have to worry about your brother at all.' Suigintou said.

'So…will you be coming back?' Mirien asked.

'It depends on whether we win or lose.' Suigintou said with a sigh. 'If we win, all of the Rozen Maidens, and Rikou will get to go. If we lose, Rikou will still get to go, but we will have to stay there…'

'When is this battle happening?' Mirien asked.

'We plan to go in three days time.' Suigintou replied. 'I have decided to stay with two of my sisters until that time, because if the dolls go back on their word, it would be dangerous to be alone and with out a medium.'

'Suiseseki is one of them?'

'Yes, and Suiseseki's twin, Souseseki, who is the fourth Rozen Maiden, also lives there.' Suigintou said. 'They are the only two sisters of mine that I am sure are alive in this era.'

'I see.' Mirien said. 'What do I tell the school? They will want to know why he is absent.'

'Tell them he is missing, or that you don't know where he is or something. Make it up.' Suigintou replied.

There was moment of silence, before Mirien spoke up.

'So, if you lose, you won't come back?'

Suigintou looked down at the floor. 'No.'

'We…Well…' Mirien stuttered. 'Please come back safely and all, I know Rikou would be pretty depressed with out you here and everything.'

'I've only been here for about two weeks, he wouldn't miss me that much.' Suigintou said.

'I think he would…' Mirien said.

'Anyways desu, we can't just stand around chatting, we have got to get a move on desu!' Suiseseki said hurriedly.

'Well then, goodbye.' Suigintou picked up her case, and turned to fly out the window.

'Wait!' Mirien yelled.

'What desu?'

'Fix the window.' Mirien stated.

'Fine then, fine then desu.'

Suiseseki raised her hand, and a small green light came from her ring. The window was soon back into place.

'See you then desu!' Suiseseki turned and flew out the open window.

Suigintou turned and flew out the window. Mirien watched as they flew into the distance.

'I think I would kinda miss you too. Please come back safely.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

It was late in the night at Rina's house, but Suigintou could not sleep. After collecting her things, the normal eat dinner-watch TV-go to sleep routine that she had gotten herself into at Rikou's apartment had run smoothly, if she ignored the fact that Joenna threw her potato at Suiseseki as revenge for the crayon incident earlier and the two had had a food fight over dinner.

Suigintou had gone to her case to sleep at the same time as the others, but no matter how hard she tried to rest, she could not sleep. She ended up crawling out of her case at around 11:00pm at night, and opening the window, so that she could sit on the windowsill and think.

The original reason why she had sat on the windowsill to think, was that she could clear her mind and go back to sleep, but not a single thought flittered through her mind. Instead she merely leaned against the window frame and observed the black world outside.

The only movement that she could see were the trees swaying in the cold breeze, and the occasional car in the distance. At various distances away, Suigintou could make out lights flicking on and off. Soon, Suigintou could see a pattern of lights turning on and off, and she hazily began looking around at the light that was expected to turn on or off next.

Then she heard the familiar 'click' of one of the doll's cases opening.

'Suigintou, are you awake too?'The childish voice of Joenna hazily mumbled.

'It appears I am.' Suigintou replied. 'What's wrong? Can't you sleep?'

'No.' Joenna said. 'Can't you sleep either?'

'I usually stay up this late, and I wanted some fresh air.' Suigintou lied. 'Why are you unable to sleep?'

Suigintou suddenly was embraced from behind and she gasped as Joenna hugged her tightly.

'I don't want you to go.' Joenna began to sob. 'Please don't leave. I don't want you to go. I don't wanna be lonely.'

Joenna's embrace tightened and she began to cry into Suigintou's back. Suigintou did not know what to say, as she had never dealt with a child, let alone one that was upset.

'Well…' Suigintou began, before Joenna cut in.

'I don't want any of you to die. Please tell me you're not going to die!'

'Joenna, none of us are going to die. We're all going to come back, and then we'll all be together again. How does that sound?' Suigintou wasn't even convinced herself that they would be coming back at all, but it was worth saying these things to make Joenna feel better.

'Are you sure?' Joenna asked her.

'I'm positive.' Suigintou replied.

'Promise?' Joenna said hopefully.

'Look, it's a promise, now will you go back to sleep?' Suigintou asked, slightly annoyed at Joenna's behaviour.

'I will!' Joenna said happily.

Joenna left Suigintou, and Suigintou could hear her walk back to her case.

'Good night!'

'Good night.'

With that, there was a 'click' signalling that Joenna had gone back into her case.

Suigintou sighed, and returned to watching the outside world at night time, until a voice interrupted her thoughts.

'Awww, Suigintou has a friend.' A voice from inside Suigintou's head cooed.

'Shut up, I don't want to hear from anyone, let alone you right now.' Suigintou said in response.

'Touchy. Always in a foul mood, aren't we Suigintou?'

'I told you to SHUT UP!' Suigintou gritted through her teeth.

'Temper, temper.'

Suigintou took flight out of the window and began aimlessly thrashing around in the air.

'What do you want with me? Why are you always annoying me?'

'You wouldn't want to know what I want with you. And I'm always annoying you to remind you that I'm around. Are you scared of me Suigintou?'

'No, not at all!' Suigintou yelled.

'I know you are, Suigintou. I know you cringe in fear at the sound of my voice, even when I only speak a single word.'

'So, you're trying to scare me then?' Suigintou yelled.

'Yes, but that's not all I'm trying to achieve from you.'

'Then what? JUST TELL ME!'

'I love seeing you angered and in pain Suigintou.'

'SHUT UP! LEAVE ME!'

'_Please, just leave her be!'_

Suigintou gasped. 'Sh…SHINKU!'

'No way…' The voice faded away.

'Shinku, where are you?' Suigintou yelled up at the night sky. She suddenly felt something very cold clutching onto both of her hands.

'_You will be seeing me sooner than you think.'_

'When is that? Shinku? SHINKU!!' Suigintou felt 'Shinku' leave her, and soon she was falling. Then everything suddenly went black.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Shinku woke up in cold sweat. That dream again. She had had it twice in a row, and it terrified her.

Shinku took some deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. She would have yelled for someone, but she knew that Lyn would get in deep trouble, and she would be put back into a deep sleep, so she restrained herself from doing so.

The first time she had had this dream, she was floating near the ceiling of a room. Shinku had heard a scream coming from below her, and she saw Suigintou thrashing around the room screaming. Then Shinku had seen why. There was something black and foggy hovering over her, speaking to her in a soft, taunting voice.

Shinku had floated down to the black thing, put her hand around it's 'neck' and strangled it. The black form vanished into nothing.

Shinku had leaned over Suigintou and asked her whether she was ok. Suigintou began looking around the room, and Shinku realised that she could not see her.

Suigintou had suddenly fainted. Shinku put her hand on Suigintou's cheek, as Suigintou faded away, and then vanished. Shinku had woken from that dream in cold sweat, just like she had now.

This time, she had been in a garden. It was night time, so she could not really see what sort of plants were in it. Then she heard someone yelling.

Shinku looked up, and like in the other dream, she saw Suigintou yelling. And just like the other dream, there was a black, hazy figure hovering next to her whispering in her ear.

Suigintou suddenly took flight, and the black figure flew with her as she thrashed about, trying to find whatever it was that was taunting her.

Shinku flew up, so that she was floating directly behind the figure. 'Please, leave her be!' Shinku had pleaded.

Suigintou looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. 'Sh…SHINKU!' she had yelled.

Shinku summoned some rose petals, and they shot the figure straight through it's head, neck and back. 'No way…' it had gasped as it faded.

Suigintou had turned to the night sky and had began to yell 'Shinku, where are you?'

Shinku then remembered that Suigintou could not see her. So, she had held both of Suigintou's hands, and knowing of the arranged battle she told her 'You will be seeing me sooner than you think.'

Shinku had woken up shortly afterwards, so she did not remember much about what had happened next.

Shinku had no idea what the dreams meant. She had learnt from Lyn that Suigintou was alive in this era, so was she in some sort of trouble?

Shinku closed her eyes and drifted back into a dream, more peaceful than the last.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Suigintou…Suigintou…Wakey, wakey, it's time for breakfast…'

Suigintou slowly opened her eyes and groaned. She was lying on a bed, staring up at the ceiling. 'What happened…?'

'You're finally awake then! That's good, I didn't know if you were dead or not, so I don't need to bury you in the garden.'

'There is only one person in the world that would be stupid enough to say something like that, other than my idiot of course.' Suigintou thought. She turned to the side, and sure enough Rina was leaning over her trying to check her pulse.

'Rina, you are aware that dolls don't have pulses, aren't you?' Suigintou asked.

'Whoops, silly me, I guess I forgot.' Rina said with a giggle. 'I'll go and get something made for you lot to eat then! Hmmm…'

Suigintou sighed as Rina left. 'People in the world today…'

'Ah, so you are awake now. It's good to see you up Suigintou.' Souseseki said.

Suigintou sat up. 'How long have I been out for?'

'I'd say about half a day.' Souseseki stated.

'What time is it now?' Suigintou asked.

'It's around three in the afternoon.'

'Then why was your medium telling me that it was time for breakfast?' Suigintou asked.

'Well…You know Rina…' Souseseki sighed. 'Anyway, there doesn't appear to be any internal or external injuries, and it doesn't seem as though anything has happened mentally to you.'

'Well, I'm questioning my mental state right now…' Suigintou muttered.

'Pardon?' Souseseki snapped out of her thoughts.

'…Nothing.' Suigintou replied. 'Why are you acting so doctor-like? Is there something wrong with me that I don't know about?'

'Well, we knew that something was odd, when we woke up this morning and your case was empty and the window was open.' Souseseki told her. 'Joenna told us that she saw you sitting at the windowsill last night. We thought that you may have run off, due to your medium's condition or that you weren't comfortable with living with us or something.'

'I would never have done so!' Suigintou said confidently, but she was cut off by Souseseki.

'The thing that really sparked our concern was when we found you outside, sleeping soundly…in the branches of a very tall tree. I won't need to tell you the effort it took to get you down unharmed.'

'I was found…In a tree?' Suigintou said hazily.

'Yes, you were.' Souseseki stated.

Suddenly the door burst open, and Joenna walked in.

'SHE'S ALIVE!' Joenna screamed, running across the room and latching herself onto Suigintou's waist.

'I'm so glad you're not dead.' Joenna began hugging her tightly.

'Why would I be dead?' Suigintou asked.

'Rina told me you were dead and I was SO SAD!' Joenna squealed, hugging her very tightly.

'Suigintou, you woke up desu!' Suiseseki walked over and sat beside her twin. 'How do you feel desu?'

There was a silence between them.

'Joenna, I think you can let go of Suigintou's waist now.' Souseseki said.

'Why?'

'She can't breathe.'

Joenna pulled away from Suigintou, and Suigintou drew a deep gasp of air. 'Thanks...'

Joenna began picking at a thread on her over jacket. 'I've been thinking for a while…'

'What desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'I wanna go with you.' She said softly.

'Where to desu?'

'I want to go with you to battle those dolls.'

The whole room was silent.

'Joenna, you know you can't, you don't have enough fighting skill…' Souseseki began.

'Yes I do!' Joenna yelled.

'Well, if we can get her to hug the enemy until they suffocate, then she'll be quite useful.' Suigintou said sarcastically.

'I have enough fighting skill! I'm one of the top in the state…'

'Joenna, this isn't some joyride tournament! This is a battle of power, where any on-the-spot decision you make could cost you your life!' Suigintou told her.

'I don't care! Please give me a chance? Please?' Joenna pleaded.

'Look, I'll make a deal with you.' Suigintou began. 'I'll battle you, and if you can defeat me, then you can come along. If you don't, then you have to stay here.'

'OK then, I'll do it!' Joenna said confidently.

'Wait Suigintou!' Souseseki yelled. 'You can't possibly battle in your current condition.'

'What's wrong with my current condition?' Suigintou asked.

'Suigintou, just by looking at you, I can tell you are tired.' Souseseki began. 'And plus, only minutes ago, you were almost suffocated. I'll battle her in your place.'

'Fine then.' Suigintou said. 'Do what you want.'

'Joenna, we'll battle in the garden. Suiseseki will watch us and be like a judge. RINA!' Souseseki yelled.

Within a few seconds, Rina was upstairs. 'Yes?'

' Please watch Suigintou and make sure she gets some rest. We don't want her flying into trees in her sleep again.' Souseseki said.

'Ok then.' Rina said.

The three dolls headed out the door, and Suigintou turned to the girl avidly watching her.

'Rina, why are you staring at me?'

'Because I was told to watch you and I am! Now, get some sleep. You look so tired.'

'The reason I can't get to sleep is because you're watching me.' Suigintou replied. 'I'm not used to having anyone stare at me as I sleep. What I think Souseseki meant, was that you should keep an eye on me, not stare at me second-by-second!'

'Why not?'

'It's creepy. Can't you do something else, so I can get some rest?'

'Fine then, I will!' Rina moved over to a white bookshelf, and pulled out some notebooks. She sat down on the floor and began writing and drawing in them. Suigintou couldn't really see what she was doing, but she didn't really care. Suigintou listened to the scratching of a pencil against paper, while staring up at the ceiling.

'Out of curiosity, what are you doing?'

'Writing music.' Rina replied. 'I always write down ideas in a pocket notebook as soon as I think of them, and I try to develop them either at home or in the studio.'

'Rina, when did you decide that you wanted to be a singer?'

Rina looked deep in thought. 'Well, even when I was little I was interested in music, but my parents didn't really like that I was interested in it. They didn't really see performing arts as a proper career. So I convinced them that I was only going to do it as a hobby, and nothing more. Eventually, my parents slowly began to see that I was serious about this, so we came to a negotiation that I could do singing as a hobby, if it didn't interfere with my studies.

Then, in a period of about a year, a lot of things happened. I started performing for my school and for small events around the place in my spare time. At the end of one of my shows, I was given a chance to compete in a competition for a well known recording group, where the winner would get a contract with them.

I begged my parents to let me go, but they didn't want me to. They told me that because I was in my peak years at school, I needed to start focusing on my studies, and stop getting distracted by things on the side. I thought that perhaps I would run away on the day of the competition, and sing no matter what they said. And that's what I ended up doing.

On the day of the competition, which was a Saturday, I slipped out of my room with all my things, through the window. I walked a bit, and then caught a taxi there. I thought I had planned it all out. My performance at the competition went without a problem, and I would say that it was probably one of my best performances.

But, backstage after my performance, a police officer came to visit me. I thought that my parents had called the police, and that the officer was here to take me back home. When I tried to explain myself, and why I was here, the police officer told me that…that he was here for an entirely different reason.

He told me that when my parents were travelling on the road to the venue, most likely to take me back home, they…they were killed in a car crash. Another car had run the red light, and…and my parent's car was hit. They were both dead when the bodies were removed from the vehicle.

I was incredibly upset. But, after the few performances left, the winner would be announced, and I didn't know what to do. In the end, a friend of mine convinced me that it was worth at least seeing what the results were. It was such a shock, when the winner was announced to be me. I cried on the stage, for so many reasons.

I thought about rejecting the contract, because after all, it was my passion to sing that had indirectly killed my parents in the first place! If I accepted the contract, then it would be like I was happy with my parent's killer!

But…But I decided to accept the singing contract. Because…I had already lost my parents, and I didn't want to lose anything else. If I gave up, then everything that I had done and all the things that had happened would have been all for nothing! And at that very moment, when I signed the contract, was when I truly decided that I wanted to sing.'

Rina curled up into a ball and began to cry. 'Although it was so long ago, it still brings back tears!'

Suigintou listened to the girl crying, and she remembered her own life. 'Yes, although it was so long ago now, it still pains me to think of all the tears shed back then.' She thought to herself.

'The twins have been living with me for over 3 months now. They make good company, and I have really enjoyed spending time with them. I will miss them when they go.' Rina said, as she tried to control her sobbing.

'When they 'go'?' Suigintou said. 'Look, don't give up hope, we have a chance at winning the battle…'

'That's not what I meant!' Rina yelled.

Suigintou was slightly shocked that Rina had yelled. 'What did you mean then.'

'Normal doll, Rozen Maiden doll, it doesn't matter.' Rina sobbed. 'Nothing lasts forever! Eventually, every good thing comes to an end, which is why I am appreciating their company, while it still exists! Really, that could apply to anything, you living dolls have a heart and soul! To nurture them and watch them grow, and know that one day they are going to die on is just cruel!'

'That could be applied to humans too.' Suigintou replied.

'Huh?'

'When a mother gives birth to a child, she knows that one day the small baby is going to die. All humans hope that the death will be due to old age, but really the child could die tomorrow, or in the next month or in a years time due to any kind of reason. Then, why would a mother bother raising a child like it's going to live a long life, when it could die the next day? '

'Why?'

'Because' Suigintou concluded. 'With every life, there is hope. A mother's duty to her child is to teach them how to fight, to hold onto their life, and to grasp the gift of hope. The same can be applied to living dolls, even if the knowledge about the time of death is different. A medium who truly cares about their doll will teach them how to find the gift of hope, and in doing so will give them a chance at life.'

'I guess so.' Rina shrugged. 'That didn't really sound like you…'

'I had a little sister that used to say things like that all the time.' Suigintou smiled. 'It rubs off after a couple of decades.'

'By the way, missy.' Rina stood up and put her hands on her hips. 'Our chatting has distracted you from sleeping! Rest!'

'Fine, fine.' Suigintou turned over on the bed to face the wall of the room, and was just about to fall to sleep, when a loud yelling instantly woke her up.

'Now what?' She groaned, and she turned and saw Joenna happily spinning about the room.

'SUIGINTOU!' She yelled, as she latched onto Suigintou's waist and snuggled into her side. 'IWONIWONIWONIWON…IIIII WOOOOON!'

Suigintou turned to the Gardener twins who had entered the room shortly afterwards. 'You can't be serious.'

'Nope, she beat Souseseki, fair and square desu.' Suiseseki commented. 'You should have been there desu! The fight was so intense, I could hardly keep my eyes on it, they were moving so fast desu!'

'Well then, we should start compiling some sort of letter to give to the opposing dolls, explaining the current situation…' Souseseki said in a rather annoyed tone.

'What would it say? 'We didn't want to make a small child cry, so we battled her and she won, so now she has to come along'.' Suigintou said sarcastically.

'Suigintou, did you even get an ounce of sleep while we were gone?' Souseseki asked.

Suigintou did not reply.

'I will take that as a 'No'.' Souseseki said. 'Now, it's almost time to eat something for dinner, so we'll all go downstairs, and you had better get some rest during that time.'

'Yes, yes.' Suigintou said with a sigh.

The three dolls and Rina left the room. Suigintou turned over to the wall, and finally was able to go to sleep.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'I don't believe this!' Scylla yelled.

'What is it, Scylla?' Morielta asked.

'The Rozen Maiden's we are going to battle want to bring a brat along.' Scylla yelled.

'What? No way! They can't do that!' Morielta said, in a shocked tone. 'Wait, how do you know that?'

'This letter came through the mirror addressed to us.' Scylla said handing the opened envelope over to her sister. 'Here, read for yourself!'

'_To opposing dolls,_

_Due to our current circumstances, we would like your permission to bring along a normal living doll with us. She isn't very powerful, and wouldn't do you much harm. _

_Please reply with your response._

_From the Rozen Maidens'_

Morielta read the letter out loud and looked up at her sister. 'What should we say?'

'Well, the obvious answer is no! The deal was three vs. three, not three vs. three+brat.' Scylla fumed. 'I'm going to give them a response right now, telling them exactly what sort of idiot I think they are being.'

'Wait, Scylla.'

Scylla turned and saw a sight that she had not seen…Well, ever.

'Master, what are you doing here?' Morielta asked with concern. 'You never leave your area of the house when we are here.'

'Well, I decided to get some fresh air. I heard from…sources, that you three plan to battle with the Rozen Maidens, right here in this very mansion.'

'Yes, Master.' Scylla replied. 'We hope that doesn't displease you…'

'No, it makes me happy that you are doing your job.'

'But, the Rozen Maidens want to bring their friend along.' Morielta said. 'We didn't know what to say as an answer, and as you are here, we might as well ask you what you think.'

'I think you should let them.'

'But why?' Scylla asked.

'Let me tell you how I would plan to invite four dolls into the mansion, and only have a three-vs.-three battle…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn was wandering down the hall of the mansion late on the night before the battle was to be held, although she did not know that. Shinku and Lyn had discussed many things about the battle, and this was the last thing that was needed to be done, before her preparations were complete.

Lyn walked closer and closer to her destination, and considering the many forbidden acts that she had already committed, she should be used to this feeling of guilt by now. But, she still felt incredibly guilty at breaking more rules, but knew that after tonight, she would not need to.

She approached her Master's quarters, a place that was forbidden to her. Under any circumstances, she would not be allowed to enter there. But she put her hand on the door knob, and slowly, and without a sound, she opened the door.

Lyn crept over to her Master's bed and knelt beside it. Shinku had told her the previous day, when the subject was brought up, what the other way was to get rid of a medium's contract.

She leaned over him, and hesitated, before kissing his medium's ring. The medium's ring glowed for a few seconds, and that was her cue to go.

She walked as quietly and as fast as she could, out the room and closed the door with out making a noise. Then she broke out into a run, and she ran down the hallway, past rows and rows of lifeless dolls that stared at her with their blank, silent eyes.

Lyn continued running, and subconsciously ran into the room that Shinku was kept. She entered the room and shut the door behind her. She slumped down the wall, curled up into a ball, and then began to cry.

Shinku, who had been pretending not to move after being awakened from her sleep, opened her eyes when she realised that it was Lyn who was crying.

'Lyn, what's wrong?'

'I did...I did…I did it…' Lyn opened her clenched fist, revealing a ring that was still glowing a soft blue.

Her crying became heavier, and she hugged herself tightly in an attempt to comfort herself. Her silver medium's ring fell out of her hand and landed with a soft 'cling' on the floor.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

Well, Public holidays become useful when writing fiction's aren't they?

If any of you are confused about the time span, Mirien's visit happened the day Rikou was kidnapped, the voice incident happened that night as well as Shinku's take on the dreams, and Suigintou's whole attempt to rest happened the next day. The part with Morielta, Scylla and the master could have happened anytime from late that evening the day after Rikou gets kidnapped, to the day before they plan to battle, and Lyn rejecting her contract happens the night before. They all happen in a chronological sequence, so you shouldn't get that confused.

I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter. BATTLE TIME!


	16. Together We Stand Divided

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 16**

Suigintou opened the lid of her case, and spent a few moments taking in the new morning light that streamed through the open window. Today was the day that the four dolls had decided to show for the battle. For everyone else, this day was just another regular Friday, a day to finish the week and get ready for the weekend ahead.

Suigintou floated to the window, opened it, and sat on the window ledge with her head against the frame. She had gotten into the habit of doing this every morning at Rina's house, and she rather enjoyed the few minutes of peace she got before the other not-so-quiet members of the household woke up.

'Ahhh, good morning Suigintou desu…' Suiseseki said with a yawn, as she lifted the lid of her case.

'Speak of the devil…' Suigintou mumbled.

'Pardon?'

'Good morning Suiseseki.' Suigintou said dully, in order to cover up what she had just said.

'Well, you don't seem very energetic this morning!' Suiseseki pouted. 'Especially since we're going to need every bit of energy we need to defeat those evil dolls today desu!'

Rina yawned, and then sat up in bed. 'Good morning Suigintou and Suiseseki.'

'Good morning.' The two Rozen Maiden's said, almost in perfect synch.

'You're going to that thing today, aren't you?' Rina said sadly. 'Well, I'll have to go cook you something to eat! You can't go out to battle on an empty stomach!'

Rina got out of bed and headed out the room. Suiseseki turned back to Suigintou, who had not moved a muscle since she had woken up. She smiled a devious smile, as she stared at Suigintou's back.

Suddenly, Suigintou was embraced very tightly, and then pulled off the windowsill and into the room. Suigintou fell backwards, and luckily enough, the bed cushioned her fall. Suigintou turned to the side and saw Suiseseki lying next to her, with her arms wrapped around Suigintou's shoulders.

Then, Suigintou heard another case open. She looked to her side, and saw Joenna emerge from her case.

'Suigintou, why is Suiseseki hugging you?' Joenna asked.

'Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really…'

Joenna suddenly ran over to Suigintou and hugged her very tightly around the waist.

'If Suiseseki is hugging you, I wanna hug you too!' Joenna said.

Joenna began crying into Suigintou's waist. Suiseseki followed suit shortly afterwards, and also began crying into her shoulder.

Suigintou tried to loosen the grip of at least one of the dolls, but she was stuck. Suigintou heard the last remaining case open with a 'click'.

'Good morning…' Souseseki said sleepily, before noticing the scene in front of her. 'W…What's going on?'

All Souseseki could see, was that Joenna and Suiseseki were hugging Suigintou very tightly, and both of them were half-crying, half-screaming. Suigintou turned to look at the very confused Souseseki.

'Oh, help me…' Suigintou said sarcastically.

'Suigintou, how in the world do you manage to get yourself into these sorts of situations?' Souseseki said with a sigh.

Luckily for Suigintou, a few seconds later, Rina yelled an important announcement from the downstairs kitchen.

'Hey, I'm cooking pancakes, and they're almost ready! You better come down and get some before I eat them all!' Rina yelled from downstairs.

Well, the announcement was important enough to get the smaller dolls to separate from Suigintou. Almost instantly, Joenna and Suiseseki detached themselves from Suigintou, and proceeded to go out the room and down the stairs.

When Suigintou finally got the chance to sit up, she ended up rolling off the side of the bed and onto the floor.

'Don't beat yourself up. We do have a battle to fight today.' Souseseki stated.

'I'm not trying to, I just tend to be squished by those two on a regular basis via death hug!' Suigintou said, as she stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt.

Souseseki left the room for breakfast, and was followed shortly after by Suigintou.

As Suigintou left Rina's room, a horrible thought popped into her mind. 'What happens if the battle takes a turn for the worst? Will things be the same, for us and the people around us?'

Suigintou pushed this thought to one side, and continued her walk to the kitchen. After all, if this was to be the last meal that she would ever have, she wanted to enjoy it.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Are we all ready?' Souseseki asked, as the other three dolls gathered around the mirror.

'We've been ready all morning, I don't think there is a possible way that we could be more ready then we are right now.' Suigintou said sarcastically.

'OF COURSE I AM DESU!' Suiseseki yelled. 'Those idiots should be punished for what they've done desu!'

'I'm a bit nervous…' Joenna mumbled.

'Now isn't the time for being nervous, Joenna.' Suigintou said firmly.

Joenna clung to Suigintou's arm, and Suigintou sighed. 'Children like that never grow up…'

'In fact, I'm shocked that they actually agreed to let her come desu!' Suiseseki said.

'They may be up to something, so we need to keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour while we are there.' Souseseki opened the portal to the address that was listed on the paper. 'I'll go first.'

Souseseki disappeared into the portal, and was followed by Suiseseki, then Suigintou and Joenna.

The four of them landed in a fountain in the middle of a courtyard. They were careful enough not to get wet when they jumped out the portal and onto the gravel near the fountain. The courtyard was very large, and was in the centre of a large mansion.

'We came!' Souseseki yelled, as she summoned her shears.

Souseseki's yell echoed several times, and eventually faded away.

'Maybe they aren't expecting us desu…' Suiseseki said.

Suddenly a column of black sludge appeared and collided with Suigintou. The black column rammed into one of the brick walls that held up the building, and went straight through the wall. The black sludge then formed a replacement wall, and morphed it's appearance to imitate the wall that had been there before.

Suigintou tried to stand, but found that she could barely move.

'Well, this is a bad way to start a battle…' Suigintou thought, as she tried to move. She found she could not as something was crushing her lower half.

Suigintou suspected that this was part of the original brick wall, and she tried to move it. She found the weight of the thing that was crushing her too great, and after being flung through two brick walls, she felt a bit dizzy.

'Do you feel tired Suigintou? I know a few ways that I could put you to sleep forever.'

'That voice again.' Suigintou thought to herself. 'Of all times to come out, why now?'

'Because my time is close…So close…'

'What do you want? Why me?' Suigintou yelled.

'No cheating Suigintou! You will see in time! I can feel it coming… Now be a good girl and go to sleep for me…'

'No!' Suigintou yelled. 'Never! I won't…I won't go…to…sle…

As Suigintou slipped into unconsciousness, she thought she could hear footsteps in the distance coming slowly towards her…

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

The three remaining dolls were flung into battle only seconds after the column collided with the wall.

'SUIGINTOU!' Souseseki yelled and she turned in the direction that the column had gone in. Morielta appeared with her scythe pointed at Souseseki's neck.

'I would not worry about her. You won't be seeing her in a while…' Morielta snickered.

'I wouldn't bet on it!' Souseseki yelled, running at Morielta with her shears in front of her. As the two weapons clashed, Suiseseki summoned her watering can.

'Not so fast, dear.' Suiseseki heard a voice from behind her. She turned, and saw a snake curl around her neck.

Suiseseki screamed, and a huge tree sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the snake and constricting until it broke into two.

Suiseseki looked around the tree and saw Scylla standing with one hand on her hip, and the other hand up in the air. The snake that she had just cut in half heal itself, and Scylla ran forward to strike Suiseseki.

Joenna still stood on the ground near the fountain observing the two battles in front of her. She had summoned a whip, with a clear handle and a long black strip of leather. The four participants of the battles around her did not seem to notice her.

Then Joenna realised; there was supposed to be three opposing dolls, but there was only two.

'Where is the other one?' Joenna thought to herself.

Joenna, being careful to watch her back in case one of the other dolls attacked her, began looking around in order to find the missing doll, before it attacked her.

After looking around the places closest to the battle, she finally found a blonde doll leaning up against a hallway wall. Although where the blonde doll stood was out of sight to the current battles in the courtyard, Joenna could still hear what was going on outside.

'Hey, you!' Joenna yelled, holding her whip out in front of her. 'Are you the third doll?'

'What?' the blonde doll said unenthusiastically.

'The battle is supposed to have three dolls. Are you the other one who is supposed to be fighting?' Joenna asked.

'I guess so.' The blonde doll replied.

'Then why aren't you?' Joenna asked. 'If you want to catch the Rozen Maiden's that badly, then why aren't you?'

'I'm not sure I want to anymore.' The blonde doll shrugged. 'This is where my choices have lead me, so I need to stick with them, to make sure that nothing else goes wrong.'

Joenna had no idea what the blonde doll was talking about. 'She's a bit unusual, for an evil doll.' Joenna thought.

The blonde doll looked directly at Joenna. 'You know the black angel?'

'Yes.'

'Well, go down this hallway, take the first left, go down the other hallway, take the second right, go up a flight of stairs, go down another hallway, then go through the door on the very end of the hall, and you'll find two doors. Go through the one on the right, and you'll find the black angel. Did you get that?'

'First left, second right, up stairs, door at end of the hallway, right hand door. Got it!' Joenna ran past the blonde doll. Her run slowed to a walk, and she slowly stopped. She turned back to the blonde doll.

'Why are you helping me?' Joenna asked.

'Because, what he is going to do is wrong. I don't want anyone else to be hurt the way I was.'

Joenna stared at the doll for a few seconds, then continued her run down the hall.

'Now that I have distracted the third party…' Lyn looked down the other end of the hall. 'I need to get going if I want to be successful...'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Where did Joenna go?' Souseseki yelled at Suiseseki, while dodging another column of slime that was thrown at her by Morielta.

Suiseseki looked down at the ground, and saw that Joenna was no where to be seen. 'Damn her desu! How dare she run away desu!'

'You should have followed her lead and ran away with her!' Scylla yelled, as the four snakes on her right hand grew to an incredible length and attempted to wrap around Suiseseki.

'No way!' Suiseseki yelled, as another tree sprouted from the ground, aimed at Scylla. 'I'm not a coward like her desu!'

Scylla stepped to the side and dodged the tree. 'That does remind me…Where did that Lyn go?'

'Hey, Morielta, where did Lyn go?' Scylla yelled at her sister.

Morielta's column of sludge wrapped around Souseseki's ankle, and flung her against one of the four walls.

'My guess is that she, and the living doll they call 'Joenna' are battling inside the house.' Morielta yelled back.

Souseseki emerged from the brick wall, and jumped back up into the air. By this time, Souseseki's top hat was missing and there were rips all over Souseseki's outfit. Suiseseki had some rips in her outfit, but not as many as Souseseki, and her bonnet was slanted.

'Well, Lyn better be taking care of that other one.' Scylla said to herself. ' If not, I don't know what in the world she could be doing.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn ran down the hallway, and into the room where Shinku was being kept.

'Hey, Shinku!' Lyn yelled.

Shinku opened her eyes and stared at Lyn. 'What is it?'

'They're battling now!' Lyn said frantically.

'Now?'

'Yes, NOW!'

Lyn grabbed the device that was attached to Shinku's arm. She fiddled with it for a few seconds, until it finally came off.

'Come on, we need to go now!' Lyn said.

'Where to?' Shinku asked.

'Anywhere, just as long as it isn't here!' Lyn replied.

Lyn grabbed Shinku's wrist and pulled Shinku out the door.

'What happens if we get caught?' Shinku asked.

'My Master is no longer my Master, so he has no control over me anymore!' Lyn said, as she pulled Shinku down hallway after hallway and down a flight of stairs.

'No, I meant, what happens if we get caught in the battle?' Shinku asked. 'Your sisters will kill you!'

'We'll just have to avoid them then.' Lyn said with a smirk.

Lyn knew she only had to endure the stares of the lifeless dolls in the many hallways that they were travelling down for the very last time. She silently said her goodbyes to them, and continued running with Shinku down the hallway.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou slowly opened her eyes. 'How long have I been out for?' she thought to herself, as she struggled to move.

Then Suigintou figured out why moving was so hard. Her wrists were chained together, and were attached to something above her head. She could not feel her wings at all.

She could feel that she wasn't sitting on anything soft. When her sight adjusted, Suigintou saw that she was sitting on a wooden floor, and that her hands were chained to something sticking out of the wall above her head. She could see she was sitting in some sort of office, and there were bookshelves filled with papers all around her.

Suigintou banged the back of her head against the wall in her frustration, and grumbled when she felt pain in the back of her head.

'Finally awake? That's good to hear…'

Suigintou turned to her side and saw a man sitting on a desk chair at a desk. He wasn't facing her, and instead was concentrating on some papers in front of him on the desk.

'Who are you?' Suigintou asked him.

'I am…' The man stopped and thought for a few seconds. 'You could say I am the man that the Advanced dolls call 'Master'.

'So, you're the Master…' Suigintou said. 'Where are my sisters?'

'I believe they are still battling with the Advanced dolls.' The Master said. 'You have been unconscious for about half an hour.'

'Has my medium been returned?' Suigintou asked.

'The boy? Yes, Scylla took him back to his apartment when we felt your presence here.' The Master replied.

'At least Rikou is safe…' Suigintou thought to herself.

'I'm not going to waste anytime, and seeing as my study is done, I think I should get started.'

'Get started? With what?' Suigintou had no clue what this man was going to do to her, but what ever it was did not sound nice, and she would not allow it. 'Tell me, what am I here for? What are you going to do to me?'

The Master stood up from the desk chair, and turned to face Suigintou.

Suigintou gasped as she saw the man's face. She instantly recognised him, and she felt an intense anger bubble up from inside her soul.

'You…' Suigintou seethed.

'It's good to see you remember me…Suigintou.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

OOOOOOOOOHHHHH. OOOOOOOOOHHHHH. This chapter was very hard to write. I'm not sure why, it just was. This chapter is shorter than the previous long ones, but I decided to leave it where I decided to end it, because the revealy PLOT sorts of things happen next chapter. Next chapter, all will be revealed!

This chapter was also delayed a bit, because of a scary incident involving a Suigintou pullip, that was very, very frightening. I stayed away from anything Rozen Maiden for the rest of the Saturday and Sunday morning not including my cosplay, but I couldn't help that!.


	17. They Who Fear the Unknown

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 17**

Suigintou hated the man standing in front of her for so many reasons.

'Enju…' she hissed, as he walked towards her.

'I knew you wouldn't forget me.' Enju said kneeling down in front of Suigintou so he was at eye level.

'How could I forget you?' Suigintou yelled. 'In the last era you forced us to kill each other, and now in this era you are forcing other dolls to kill us instead! For what?'

'Just as the Advanced dolls told you, I like collecting dolls.' Enju replied.

'No Enju, there is another reason, and I know you're hiding it from me!' Suigintou yelled at him. 'Tell me what it is!'

Enju sighed. 'This is going to be hard to explain to someone as stubborn as you, Suigintou. So, instead I'm just going to show you. '

Suigintou studied Enju, as he walked towards a cabinet covered by a red cloth. Enju looked older than he had in the last era, but he still had that same air of suspense around him, and that had only strengthened Suigintou's hate for him in the previous era.

'Are you ready, Suigintou?' Enju asked with a smirk.

Suigintou did not reply. Instead, she growled at him and gave him the most intense stare that he had ever seen in his entire life. Enju shook off her stares and returned his focus to the cloth covered cabinet.

Enju gripped the cloth and pulled it off. Under the cloth was a doorless cabinet, but the thing that shocked Suigintou was what was inside the cabinet.

Inside the cabinet there was, what outwardly looked like, a finished living doll. The living doll was naked and was being weakly propped up by one of the cabinet's sides. The aspect of the doll that shocked Suigintou, was that the living doll had the same face and hair as Barasuishou. Suigintou could not tell whether the eye colour was the same, because the eyes were closed.

'…Why?' Suigintou asked in her shock. 'Why are you trying to recreate her?'

'I'm not trying to 'recreate' anyone.' Enju said. 'Although this may look like Barasuishou, this newer version is much more powerful, and this one is sure to better Rozen when I get it working.'

Suigintou rolled her eyes. 'That story again…' she thought to herself.

'Why do you keep trying to better Father, when it is impossible to do so?' Suigintou asked.

'Not as impossible as you think.' Enju said. 'You don't even know half of what I do. Where should I begin? When I restored you about two weeks from the battle Barasuishou died in…'

'Th…That was you who restored me back then?' Suigintou cut in. 'I thought that Father did it!'

'If Barasuishou ever told you that 'Father' did it, she was referring to myself, not Rozen.' Enju replied. 'When I restored you, it gave me a chance to study you, and find out how you worked. I wrote down all the observations that I made and put them to one side, because Barasuishou was doing a very good job terrorising you.

After Barasuishou crumbled, I returned to my workshop in another N-Field. I was very distraught over Barasuishou's death, and this only made my hate of Rozen grow even stronger. I found the records of the observations that I made then, and spent nearly all of my time studying them and trying to create a better doll.

Although I followed the diagrams and notes to perfection, there was something missing. The living dolls I made during this period, although they functioned correctly, only reached Barasuishou standard and nothing higher, and the Rosa Mystica's were not complete. I destroyed all of the living dolls I made during this period.

Although the designs were not perfect to Rozen Maiden standard, because they still worked in a similar manner, I decided to sell the designs to a company that produced dolls. And that was when…'

'…The living dolls came into being.' Suigintou said. 'So you are the reason why all these average living dolls exist!'

'Yes, that is correct.' Enju said nodding his head. 'Because I was the creator of the living doll design, I made a lot of money and became a billionaire.

I used a large proportion of that money to buy living dolls that claimed improvements to the original design. I would study the living dolls I brought, and then would keep them around the mansion in glass cabinets. From my study of improvements to the design, I created another living doll, in hopes that she would be able to be better than the Rozen Maidens.

But, she failed. That living doll I made was weak and stupid. I tried to destroy that living doll, but I made the mistake of giving her all of Barasuishou's features. I did not have the heart to destroy her, so I sold her to a second hand trader. I don't know what happened to that one.

From combining the many observations I made from studying you, the Advanced dolls, and the other living dolls that have become improved from the original design, I was finally able to create a living doll that can best a Rozen Maiden!'

'Then, what do you want me for?' Suigintou asked in frustration.

'Ah, I was just about to get to that.' Enju said walking towards her with his left hand closed into a fist. He stood over her, as he began to speak again.

'This living doll is not another ordinary living doll. From the studies and experiments I have done, I know that this one is capable of powering a Rozen Maiden's Rosa Mystica. And that's where you come in.'

'If you want my Rosa Mystica, you can't have it!' Suigintou replied. 'You definitely can't fight me for it, and I won't give it up willingly for you! And you already have Shinku in captivity don't you? Why didn't you use hers?'

'It was a tough choice between Shinku and yourself.' Enju told her. 'The two of you are about equal in power. The only reason she was stronger in the last era, is that even when you had a medium, you refused to use her power.

When I put a Rozen Maiden's Rosa Mystica in an average living doll's body, the Mystica will loose all it's memories as a Rozen Maiden, but it will still have your personality engraved inside it. This process doesn't work if the Rosa Mystica gets absorbed into another Rozen Maiden, instead the Rosa Mystica stores the memories until it registers that it is back in it's original body.

I decided on you, because although your Rosa Mystica will lose all memories of 'Suigintou', once it enters a normal living doll's body, you will still have your original personality. From what I planned to do, Shinku's personality was too warm and forgiving. So I chose you.'

'And what made you think I would so willingly give up my Rosa Mystica for someone like you?' Suigintou hissed.

'This.'

Enju held out his left hand, revealing a tipped balance. 'I found this in your dress pocket while you were still unconscious. I have re-installed it, with the instructions that you will do anything that I tell you to do.'

'I won't consume it!' Suigintou yelled at him.

'Bad luck.' Enju snickered.

Enju grabbed a knife off the desk, and held the tip against Suigintou's neck.

'Consume it, or there will be unfortunate consequences for you.' Enju said, pressing the tip gently against Suigintou's neck.

'Kill me then.' Suigintou stared directly at him. 'I would rather die than submit to your plan.'

Suddenly, a black leather strap wrapped around the arm that was holding the knife, and pulled it in a backwards direction with such force that it began to bleed.

'Stop hurting Suigintou.' Joenna, who was standing at the door with her whip, stated with confidence.

'Oh, we were just talking about you, weren't we Suigintou?'Enju smiled.

'Really, I don't remember…' Suigintou thought back though what Enju had told her. 'Wait, Joenna is the doll that you made? That must be why she looks so much like Barasuishou…'

'Hello, Joenna.' Enju smiled at her. 'Do you remember me? I created you.'

Joenna looked very confused. The whip loosened, and Enju was able to pull it off.

'Don't trust him! He is the Master! He tried to kill us!' Suigintou yelled.

'If Suigintou doesn't trust you, I don't trust you either!' Joenna yelled at Enju. She looked around, and her eyes fell on the other Barasuishou looking doll. 'Why does that doll look like me? I want answers!'

'Awww, it looks like you have a fan, Suigintou.' Enju leaned forward to pat Joenna on the head. Joenna summoned a few glass shards, much like Shinku's rose petals except made from sharp glass, and aimed them at Enju's hand. Enju grumbled when his hand began to bleed from the glass cuts.

Enju tried to grab Joenna again, but she jumped onto the desk and flung her whip around, hitting Enju in the back and causing him to fall over.

Joenna jumped off the desk and stood on the ground, holding her whip in front of her.

Enju stood up, and ran over to Suigintou. He leaned over her, and slammed the tipped balance against her forehead, forcing her to absorb it.

'NO!' Joenna screamed, as she ran over, but by then it was too late. Suigintou had fully consumed the tipped balance.

Enju stood back and watched Suigintou for any signs of personality change. He thought things were going to plan when Suigintou began pulling on the chains that restrained her, as she began to scream.

Then, Suigintou began to glow a bright white. Suigintou's eyes were no longer cerise, and instead they glowed white. Her wings glowed white and brilliant.

Suigintou pulled against the chains that held her wrists, and to Enju's shock she pulled the chains apart. Although Suigintou still had the locks on her wrists, she was not longer attached to the wall.

Suigintou held her hands to her ears, and continued to scream. As her screams began to cease, she dropped her hands from her head. She was still glowing as she stood up.

'No, this isn't right!' Enju thought as he stared at Suigintou. 'The tipped balance did not react in the right way!'

Suigintou turned to Enju and summoned her sword. Her sword also glowed white, due to the effects of the tipped balance.

'You threatened to hurt my host.' The voice that came from Suigintou's mouth was a mixture of Suigintou's voice, and another higher and crueller sounding voice. 'For that, you deserve to die!'

Suigintou raised her sword, and Joenna, who was hiding in the corner of the room, covered her eyes.

Joenna did not see what followed, but when she re-opened her eye, she turned to see what 'Suigintou' had done. Enju was laying on the ground and a small puddle of blood was beginning to form around him.

'I…Is he dead?' Joenna thought.

Suigintou turned to see Joenna trembling in the corner of the room. Joenna closed her eyes again, and prayed that Suigintou would change back to normal before she was killed.

Joenna waited a while with her eyes closed, so she decided to see what was going on. When she opened her eyes, Suigintou was nowhere to be seen, and the door was closed.

'Did she leave?' Joenna thought to herself. After looking around the room, Joenna confirmed with herself that Suigintou had indeed left the room.

She stood up, and turned to leave the room as well, but her eyes wondered back to the Barasuishou looking doll that Enju had made.

'That doll is kinda my sister after all.' Joenna mumbled.

She grabbed the red cloth that had once covered the cabinet and wrapped it around the doll. Joenna looked around the office and her eyes fell on a slight glow behind the desk. The glow had not been very obvious, and if Joenna hadn't been looking very hard, she wouldn't have seen it.

She crawled underneath the desk, and found a medium-sized safe implanted in the wall. The safe glowed slightly, and Joenna instantly knew what was inside. She summoned a small shard of glass, and it went into the lock that was on the safe.

The safe clicked, indicating that it was now unlocked. Joenna pulled at the door, and there, crammed in a very small space, there was hundreds, if not thousands of the white Rosa Mysticas. They were being held in place by a glass shield that covered the opening to the safe.

Joenna summoned a large glass shard and slammed it, with great force, at the glass shield. The shield broke, and Joenna had to put up a purple shield around herself to stop the hundreds of Rosa Mystica from slamming into her as they flocked out the safe and towards the room that the doll the Mystica belonged to was being kept. Joenna stared the Rosa Mystica with awe as they flew through anything between the Rosa Mystica and the doll.

Joenna watched as the last few Rosa Mystica flew through the walls of the room, and then they were gone. She looked back down at the safe and saw eight Rosa Mystica that were sitting on the bottom of the safe, and weren't making any attempt at all to escape.

'Either these Rosa Mystica did not belong to a doll, or the doll that they belonged to no longer exists.' Joenna thought to herself.

Joenna then saw one that was shining very brightly. She picked it up and held it in her hands. 'This one still shines brightly, although it doesn't belong to a doll. It must be unused.'

Joenna walked over to her sister, and pressed the Rosa Mystica into her forehead. Joenna's sister glowed for a few seconds, and then she began to move. Once Joenna's sister had opened her eyes, Joenna asked her a question.

'Hey, can you walk?' Joenna asked.

'Yes, I can.' The doll replied. The dolls voice was soft, and quiet.

'Good then!' Joenna said, pulling the doll to her feet. She ran out the room, dragging her sister with her.

Joenna's sister struggled to run and keep the red cloth covering herself at the same time.

'May I ask, why are we in such a hurry?' The doll asked.

'It's a long story, I will tell you later!' Joenna said. 'But for now, we need to find Suigintou before she destroys anything else!'

'E…Excuse me?' The doll asked again. 'But who is this 'Suigintou'? Why is she destroying things?'

'You'll see what I mean when we see her!' Joenna yelled. 'I hope she hasn't done anything else…'

Suddenly, Joenna ran around the corner and banged into someone else! Joenna fell over, pulling her sister down with her.

Joenna looked up and saw that she had ran into the blonde doll that had directed her to Suigintou earlier. This time, the blonde doll was accompanied by another blonde doll, dressed in red, who was standing directly behind the blonde doll who had given Joenna direction.

'What are you doing here?' Joenna yelled.

'I may ask the same question to you! What are you doing here?' the blonde doll replied.

'My name is Joenna, and I'm here participating in some kind of battle!' Joenna stated. 'What about you?'

'I'm Lyn, and I formerly lived here.' Lyn said, standing up and brushing herself off.

'Is that Barasuishou? Why do the two of you look like her?' The blonde doll dressed in red pointed at Joenna's sister.

'Excuse me, what is a Barasuishou?' Joenna's sister asked.

'It's only coincidence. This is the third time I've been called Barasuishou.' Joenna said.

'My name is Shinku, I am the fifth Rozen Maiden.' The blonde doll told her.

'This is my sister.' Joenna said, standing up and helping her sister stand up with her. 'She is currently unnamed.'

'I am unnamed?' Her sister asked in confusion.

'So, what were you two doing?' Joenna asked.

'We are escaping this household for good!' Lyn said. 'What were you doing?'

'Well…' Joenna went on to explain all the things that she had seen, and how she had ended up here.

'So, that's what that stream of white Rosa Mystica's was!' Lyn said. 'I was beginning to wonder!'

'So, Suigintou did not act in the way that the tipped balance made her?' Shinku asked.

'No, she lashed out and killed the Master instead! Suigintou has gone crazy!' Joenna said.

Shinku remembered the dreams she had had before, with the black form hovering over her. 'So, the tipped balance compresses your personality?'

'Yes. Why?' Joenna said.

'I think I know what happened to her! Where is Suigintou now?' Shinku said frantically.

'I don't know! I was looking for her right now when I ran into you!' Joenna replied.

'I think I know how to stop this.' Shinku said. 'We need to find her now!'

'But Shinku, if we don't leave now…' Lyn said looking down.

'My older sister is more important.' Shinku said confidently.

Lyn looked towards the exit and then looked back at Shinku. 'Fine, I'll go with you.'

The four dolls began to run up the hallway that Shinku and Lyn had just travelled down, in the hopes of finding Suigintou.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Souseseki looked down at her attire. The battle had begun an hour ago, and in that hour her outfit had been ruined in all ways possible. She looked over at Suiseseki, and she saw that Suiseseki had not come out much better. Suiseseki's bonnet was now missing, and her outfit was ripped and torn everywhere.

Scylla, who was standing across from Suiseseki looked out of breath. Morielta did not look tired or worn out at all, and still held her scythe out in front of her.

Souseseki lunged at Morielta again, but in her state was easily over powered. A column of slime grabbed her and flung her to the ground. Morielta stood over Souseseki and held her scythe over her.

'You get too weak, to easily.' Morielta raised her scythe and as she was about to bring it down on Souseseki, Souseseki saw something sharp go through Morielta's chest.

Morielta dropped her scythe, and it landed just above Souseseki's head. Souseseki gasped as she realised that it was Suigintou who had stabbed Morielta.

But, somehow Suigintou looked different. Her whole body and her sword were glowing and her eyes were a blank white, instead of their usual colour.

Suigintou pulled her sword out as Morielta dropped to her knees, and began to hack into her back. When Suigintou was done, Morielta dropped to the ground, dead.

Souseseki crawled over to Morielta and saw that she wasn't moving or breathing. She looked up at Suigintou, and slowly backed away from her.

'How dare you…' Scylla leapt at Suigintou, the snakes on her hands expanding as they neared Suigintou.

Suigintou raised her sword and cut Scylla's hand off. Scylla whimpered as she stared at the stump that was once her hand.

Now that Scylla was defenceless, Suigintou hacked at her mercilessly, until, like Morielta, she fell down, dead.

Suiseseki, who was still floating in the air, stared at Suigintou in horror. When Suigintou turned to face Souseseki, Suiseseki flew down from the sky at stood in front of Souseseki.

'STOP RIGHT NOW DESU!' Suiseseki yelled. 'If you lay one hand on either of us, I'll punish you desu! Do you…hear…me…?'

Souseseki stood up next to Suiseseki, to see what she was confused about.

When Souseseki saw that Suigintou was glowing brighter and brighter, she grabbed Suiseseki's hand and ran with her towards the exit of the courtyard.

The last thing Souseseki saw before they exited, was a light that shot out in a spherical shape, slowly crushing anything in it's path.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Shinku, Lyn, Joenna and Joenna's sister arrived in the courtyard, just in time to see light shoot out from Suigintou, which slowly moved outward, crushing anything in its way.

'What's happening?' Lyn yelled over top of the noise that the sphere was making.

'I think Suigintou is being forced to release some of her old power, to make room for the new power flowing into her.' Shinku yelled back.

'How do we stop it?' Lyn yelled in response.

'There is a way to stop it.' Shinku whispered to herself.

'Pardon?' Lyn yelled. 'It's a bit hard to hear you know!'

'I'm going to go stop it. Lyn, stay here and protect Joenna and her sister.' Shinku yelled.

'But…'

'I don't need to be protected!' Joenna yelled.

'What are we protecting? Joenna's sister said hazily.

'Just stay here with me, and you'll be fine!' Lyn yelled at Joenna and her sister. 'Are you sure that whatever you're going to do will work?'

'I'm sure.' Shinku said with a smile.

'Fine, you do that then.' Lyn yelled back. 'Good luck!'

Shinku put up a shield of rose petals around herself, and headed into the sphere.

The light was blinding and Shinku struggled to see through her rose petal shield and the blur of light that streamed by her. Finally, she reached the centre of the sphere, and found Suigintou on her knees, looking blankly upwards towards what would have been the sky.

Shinku enclosed Suigintou within her shield, but Suigintou continued to stare up at the sky.

'Suigintou, can you hear me?' Shinku asked.

Suigintou did not respond, and Shinku knew what she had to do. She put her hand on Suigintou's forehead and fed power directly to Suigintou. She could feel Suigintou was beginning to power up, and prayed that her prediction would work.

Suigintou screamed, as she expelled a mass of power at once, coving the entire mansion and destroying everything in its perimeters.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Lyn saw the power explosion and put up a blue shield to protect herself, Joenna and Joenna's sister from the blast. Once Lyn was sure that the surge had sub-sided, she took the shield down and turned to see Shinku standing in front of a kneeling Suigintou.

Suigintou was still glowing, but the glow began to fade. When it completely disappeared, Suigintou's eyes flicked back to their normal colour, and she fainted on Shinku.

Lyn ran forward to where Shinku was. 'Well, what ever you did, it worked! Now that Suigintou is healed, can we get out of here?'

'But, who will take care of…?' Shinku began.

'Joenna, her sister and those twins are here to look after her. Come on, lets go!' Lyn said.

'…OK' Shinku said, laying Suigintou on the ground.

And with that, Lyn and Shinku left the destroyed mansion for good.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou began to stir from his unconsciousness late that night, in the belief that he had only woken up from a bad dream. Mirien had long gone to sleep, and the apartment was silent.

He rolled over towards the wall in order to go back to sleep, but as he rolled over, his hand accidentally hit something. Rikou knew that something was wrong when the thing that he had just hit began to move.

Rikou turned over, and switched the bed light on.

'Please, turn that off…I've got a really big headache…'

Rikou recognised the voice, and he was not shocked when he saw Suigintou lying next to him with her back facing him.

Rikou noticed that underneath her eyes, there were lines of stress and tire. Her eyes also looked red around the rims.

'Has she been crying?' Rikou thought to himself.

Rikou shrugged off his thoughts of Suigintou's unhappiness, and instead complied with Suigintou's earlier request, by turning the bed light off. He then lay down next to her, and slipped into a peaceful sleep.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

WOOT! Now, we move into solving problemo numero dos! Which you don't know what it is yet, hehehe.


	18. Louise

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, Louise, Joenna's sister and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 18**

Lyn breathed in the fresh morning air. She was standing near the edge of a large skyscraper in the middle of the city. Lyn had brought herself here this morning so that she could see what the view was like.

'This is such a good morning!' She thought to herself, as she yawned. 'And you can see just about everything from here! Nothing could beat this!'

Lyn turned around to face the other doll that she had dragged along with her.

'What's up Shinku? Lyn asked. 'You haven't said a word since yesterday! What's bothering you?'

'…It's nothing.' Shinku leaned against the wall of a room that contained a stairwell.

'I know something's wrong Shinku!'Lyn said. 'You're not complaining as much as you usually do on other mornings!'

'I do not complain!' Shinku said stubbornly.

'Not really complain, I guess…' Lyn thought aloud. 'It's just that you're not asking me to bring you tea, and you're not having a go at me because you haven't had any, you're not telling me to fix my language when I say things wrong or swear, and you didn't even say anything when I dragged you up here with me.'

Shinku smiled. 'I guess there must be something wrong with me…'

'Of course there is!' Lyn said. 'And nothing is going to get any better if you don't tell me what's wrong with you.'

Shinku sighed. 'I'm still worried about my sister Suigintou. I want to know if she got out of that safely…'

'Look, the twins, Joenna and her sister were all there to help her. She is probably doing fine.' Lyn shrugged.

'But…' Shinku began. 'I had two dreams with her in them while I was in the mansion. In both cases, there was a black form hovering over her. I think that might be why the Tipped Balance reacted the way it did when Suigintou absorbed it. But I don't know, and I don't think anyone else knows either.'

Lyn sighed and turned back towards the view from the skyscraper. 'I could take you to where she stays, if that will help.'

'But Lyn, you never went out!' Shinku argued. 'How could you possibly know where it is?'

'I visited the apartment once not too long ago.' Lyn said. 'I was fighting with Scylla…Over her for some reason…'

Lyn's eyes stared down at the ground. Shinku had realised by then that Lyn did miss her sisters, and hardly mentioned them at all.

Lyn turned and stood in front of Shinku. 'Are we going or not?'

'Why are you so eager to go?' Shinku asked.

'We won't have anything else to do if we don't!' Lyn said with a smile.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou sighed as he drank from a can of soft drink. It was late on Saturday morning, and considering he had not been to the previous four days of school, he didn't have any homework to do. Even if he had homework to do, he couldn't go into his room and get it.

Suigintou had been sleeping in his room the entire morning, and he had made the mistake of waking her up on three separate occasions. It should have been no surprise that Suigintou was in a very bad mood, and even someone like Rikou knew that it was better to just let her sleep.

Rikou was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard the door to the kitchen open.

'Hi Rikou!' Mirien's bubbly voice announced her presence in the kitchen. 'What are you doing now? You should be resting after all that you went through! You look tired!'

'I would be resting, but someone else who is in a worse mood than I am is currently resting in my room.' Rikou said with a sigh. 'She snaps at me whenever I go in!'

'It's no surprise, she did have a battle to go to and all.' Mirien said.

'A b…battle?' Rikou mumbled. 'Why was I never informed?'

'Well, you appeared to be kind of…unconscious.' Mirien tried to explain. 'You missed the whole thing!'

'Hey Mirien? Do you have anything interesting in your room that I could do until she wakes up?' Rikou asked.

'Nope. Not for you, anyway.' Mirien said with a smile.

Mirien turned and headed out the door of the kitchen.

Rikou stared at the ceiling. 'What am I supposed to do now?'

Before he could answer his question, he heard the kitchen window behind him break. He turned and saw two blonde dolls standing at the windowsill, but he only recognised one.

'You! I've seen you before!' Rikou said, pointing at Lyn.

'Yes, I did once terrorise you, but could you please let that pass?' Lyn said. 'I won't harm you again, I promise.'

'But what about your friend over there!' Rikou pointed at Shinku.

Shinku walked over to him and whipped him with her hair. 'How dare you name me a threat when I so peacefully came to your home! Hurray along now and make me some tea!'

'Fine, I'll make you tea, but only if you fix the window!' Rikou yelled.

'You have a deal.' Shinku raised her hand, her ring glowed a bright red and the pieces of glass went back into place. 'Now, is that tea ready?'

'I'm getting to it! You only asked a few seconds ago!' Rikou began getting Shinku's tea ready.

Shinku stood up. 'I'm going to go see my sister. Lyn, you stay here and monitor his progress!'

Shinku turned and walked out of the kitchen.

'What? Is that one of Suigintou's crazy sisters?' Rikou asked Lyn.

'Let me try to explain it to you…' Lyn began with a sigh.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

After searching the apartment, Shinku found Suigintou in the room furthest down the hallway, sleeping in a bed. From what it seemed, the room belonged to a boy.

'Is this her medium's room?' Shinku thought as she approached the bed.

Suigintou shifted in her sleep. 'Rikou, if that's you again, I'm going to slaughter you when I wake up…'

Suigintou could sense that the person was close to the bed, and stuck her hand out in an attempt to swat the person away. But instead of feeling skin, her hand touched porcelain. Suigintou opened her eyes, and almost fainted when she saw who was in front of her.

'Shinku…?' Suigintou whispered.

Suddenly, Suigintou jerked away from Shinku and fled to the furthest corner of the bed.

'What are you doing? You had better have an answer! I haven't forgotten what you did to me in the last era, you know!' Suigintou snapped.

'Suigintou, I did not come here to harm you, I assure you that. There is something I wish to discuss with you, when you feel better.' Shinku said calmly.

'Just do it now.' Suigintou said flatly.

'Well, when I was still in captivity, I had two dreams. In the first, you were being tormented by a black form in some sort of room. In the second, you were in a garden and you were yet again being taunted by a black form. Each time, I had to kill it.'

Suigintou stopped and thought. 'That voice! I heard that voice in a room and a garden! Maybe it's the same thing? How else would Shinku know about it?'

'And, I was around when you absorbed the Tipped balance. The Tipped balance is a device that compresses your personality. When your mind was compressed, I believe that the black form saw it's chance to take over you.'

'That's why it said it could feel it's time was coming!' Suigintou said aloud.

Shinku stared at Suigintou.

'Continue' Suigintou mumbled.

'I managed to stop the Tipped Balance, because you were releasing power in gradual amounts. Instead of releasing it over time, I forced you to release all of your power at once. This way, since the form had no power to feed off, it disappeared. Do you feel weak?'

'Yes.' Suigintou replied.

'That's because you are very low on power. ' Shinku explained. 'I wanted to see if you were okay, after the Tipped Balance incident. That's why I came here.'

Suigintou moved to the edge of the bed and slid off. 'I better see if Rikou is up to making tea.'

'You won't need to.' Shinku said. 'I already asked him.'

Shinku flipped her pocket watch open. 'And by what the time says, the tea should be ready now. I should warn you though; Lyn is here.'

'WHAT?' Suigintou yelled. 'You brought an evil doll here?'

'Lyn is not evil.' Shinku argued. 'She was the one who freed me from captivity. Please give her a chance?'

'Fine, I will give her this chance, just for you. If she does something bad, I will deal with her personally.' Suigintou stubbornly retorted.

'Considering your condition, I think you better not deal with her personally.' Shinku commented.

Suigintou grumbled. 'Do you want to get thrown out?'

Shinku grabbed Suigintou's wrist and headed out the room, and towards the kitchen.

'What do you think you're doing, Shinku?' Suigintou asked.

'I'm taking you to tea.' Shinku smiled.

The two Rozen Maiden's entered the kitchen, and found Lyn and Rikou deep in conversation.

'So, that was what happened during that big battle thingy?' Rikou said.

'Yep. I told you it was long and complex story.' Lyn replied.

The two of them turned around and saw Shinku leading a half-awake Suigintou through the kitchen.

'Suigintou's medium.' Shinku stated.

'Yea, yea, I'll have your tea ready in a second.' Rikou said.

'Do not say 'yea, yea'. The proper way to say it is 'yes, yes'.' Shinku corrected him.

'Yes, yes, my lady, your tea will be ready very shortly.' Rikou rolled his eyes.

Shinku whipped him with her hair. 'Do not mock me, you are a mere servant. Suigintou, tell him off a bit more and he might be able to do something properly for once!'

'Rikou stop doing what you're doing…'The half asleep Suigintou mumbled.

Lyn smiled. 'Shinku is beginning to correct other people's grammar. She must be feeling better than she did this morning.' she thought to herself.

Lyn stared at Suigintou, who was trying not to fall asleep against Shinku, who was still tightly gripping her wrist.

'Suigintou sit down over there. Rikou will make you some tea.' Shinku lead Suigintou over to the couch in front of the coffee table, and sat down in front of it. Lyn followed suit and sat on Shinku's right, while Suigintou was resting against Shinku's left shoulder.

Rikou prepared tea for the three dolls and set the cups out in front of them. 'So, from what Lyn tells me you're Suigintou's younger sister?'

'Yes. You finally got something right!' Shinku sipped her tea.

'Shinku?' Suigintou mumbled.

'Yes?' Shinku turned to see Suigintou facing her.

'How did the last era end? You were there right until the end, weren't you?' Suigintou asked.

'No.' Shinku shook her head. 'Do you want me to pick up from after you died?'

'That would be nice.' Suigintou told her.

'Well, as you know, you died from using too much power without a medium…'

--_Flashback_--

'Suigintou! Suigintou!' Shinku ran over to where Suigintou's body lay.

She gathered the body in her arms, and began to cry into Suigintou's shoulder. Suigintou began to glow purple, and she expelled her two Mystica's. Shinku took both, and absorbed them, allowing Suigintou's memories to flood through her.

'I helped her die. I killed her.' Shinku thought as she sobbed.

She could here footsteps slowly approach her. Shinku looked up and saw Kirakishou walking slowly towards her.

'No. It's her. She tricked us. But how?' Shinku thought.

'Kirakishou, what are your abilities?' Shinku yelled.

'Why do you want to know?' Kirakishou asked with a smile.

'How did you trick our sisters?' Shinku asked.

'It's only simple.' Although Kirakishou was still in front of her, she had spoken in a voice that could have only been Suigintou's.

Shinku watched in horror as Kirakishou changed her appearance to match that of Suigintou.

'Do you like how I look now Shinku?' Kirakishou twisted one of her Suigintou bangs around her finger.

'Why did you masquerade as Suigintou? What drove you to do this?' Shinku yelled.

'Because I love my Onee-sama.' Kirakishou replied in Suigintou's voice. 'If I couldn't be with her, I wanted to BE her.'

'Kirakishou, no matter how much you try, you will never be Suigintou.' Shinku yelled at her.

Kirakishou looked offended. Suddenly she lunged at Shinku and summoned Suigintou's sword. Shinku stepped back and unleashed a shower of rose petals and then she summoned her cane.

Kirakishou's sword met with the cane, and Shinku pushed her back. Kirakishou hit the wall and winced as she found something sticking out of her shoulder.

Before Kirakishou could react, Shinku's Rose petals flew at her, giving her millions of small cuts. Kirakishou wrapped Suigintou's wings around her, but it was too late. Shinku's rose petals turned and hacked into 'Suigintou's' wings, stripping them of all the feathers. Kirakishou fell to the floor.

'You don't know how Suigintou makes them grow back.' Shinku stated coldly.

'SHUT UP!' Kirakishou yelled. 'Just shut up. All I wanted was to be happy with my Onee-sama. YOU RUINED IT!'

'Why did you kill everyone in the way of getting to Suigintou?' Shinku asked. 'Suigintou would have accepted you a lot more if you hadn't done what you did!'

'How do you know?' Kirakishou yelled. 'She hates you! She always hated you! So…I hate you too!'

Kirakishou ran at Shinku and hacked into her mercilessly with Suigintou's sword.

'W…Why…?' Shinku muttered as she died.

'SHUT UP!' Kirakishou screamed, stabbing Shinku's chest and ending her life.

Shinku closed her eyes and everything went black.

--_End of Flashback_--

'I don't know whether Kirakishou became Alice or not.' Shinku ended her story.

'So, the legends are true then? About the Alice thing?' Rikou asked.

'Yes.' Shinku said sadly. 'However, I was surprised to find myself alive again.'

'I was too.' Suigintou said. 'I thought Kirakishou or yourself would have taken the Rosa Mystica.'

'How are the twins?' Shinku asked.

'I don't know. When I regained consciousness, I was here and I don't know what happened to them.'

'Can we visit them?' Shinku asked.

'I think, that in Suigintou's condition, she would be too weak for travelling.' Lyn replied. 'Give it another day, and she should be fine.'

'Can't I go with you?' Shinku asked.

'Actually…I've never been to their house, so I don't know where they live.' Lyn mumbled.

Shinku looked slightly disappointed, so Suigintou patted her on the back. 'I'm sure they're fine. Don't' worry! Although their medium is very stupid, she is a nice person. If something happened, I'm sure she's looking after them. That reminds me, do you have a medium?'

Shinku stared into her tea. 'No. I was mediumless at the time of my capture.'

'Do you need a medium?' Lyn asked. 'I've done so much better without mine!'

'A Rozen Maiden needs a medium.' Shinku explained. 'That is because if we ever needed to fight in the human world, we won't get tired afterwards. They also supply extra power in the N-Field.'

'So, we need to find Shinku a medium… Someone as stubborn as Shinku would be hard to come by.' Suigintou smirked.

'Suigintou, why don't you go and get some rest.' Shinku said, feeling slightly deflated after Suigintou's comment. 'You'll be ready to go in the morning then.'

'Okay…' Suigintou yawned. 'I think I'll need some sleep, if I want to survive the day tomorrow…'

Suigintou left the room, and Shinku gave Lyn a confused stare.

'What did she mean by 'survive'?' Shinku asked. ' It's not like she's going get strangled or anything…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou woke up suddenly from the horrible dream she had just had. She turned and stared at the bedside clock that read '3:14pm'.

She sunk back down under the covers. There was no one else in the room, and she always slept with the light off and the curtains drawn.

'_Feeling any better, Suigintou?' _A voice snickered

'Not you again.' Suigintou thought to herself.

'Who are you? What do you want? Just tell me, so you can get out of my head and be gone!' Suigintou yelled.

'_Why would I do that? You'd just mock me.' _

'No I wouldn't! You don't know me!' Suigintou said clearly.

'_I know you better than anyone else.'_

'Why?'

'_I can see your thoughts and feelings as they happen! I am the reason you exist!_

'You are the reason I exist? How does that work? Father is the reason I exist!' Suigintou said in annoyance.

'…_Forget I said that.'_

'I'm not going to. For once I want to be able to get an answer for something! All my life I have been asking myself questions I can't answer. For once I want things explained!' Suigintou said stubbornly.

'_Only if you agree to make a deal with me.' _

'What sort of deal?'

'_If I tell you everything, then you will have to allow me to do this one thing. Do we have deal?'_

'Can you tell me what sort of 'thing' this is?' Suigintou asked.

'_I can't. Do we have a deal?'_

Suigintou hesitated. This 'thing' that the voice wanted to do could have been anything. But Suigintou's curiosity was getting the better of her.

'I agree to the terms.'

A form began to appear next to Suigintou. At first it was only a black shape, but as it got clearer it took on the form of a girl.

The girl was doll height and had dark blue eyes. Her hair was black and came down to her waist. Her clothing consisted of a black and white dress, very similar to Suigintou's except longer, and much more sophisticated and elegant. The crosses were still there, but there were no roses, and the head band and choker consisted of only a black strip. She wore black slippers instead of boots.

Suigintou opened her mouth to speak, but the girl quickly put her index finger against her lips. 'I will explain everything. I don't want you to say anything until I'm finished. Understand?'

Suigintou nodded.

'Good.' The girl sat behind Suigintou. 'My name is Louise. I was Rozen's second and youngest daughter.'

Suigintou was shocked. 'My Father had real children? When? With whom?' She thought.

Suigintou had a sudden urge to bombard Louise with questions, but was silenced when Louise clamped her hand over Suigintou's mouth. 'No comments.'

Louise pulled Suigintou so that she was resting against her, and began playing with her hair.

'Anyway, my older sister was called Alice.' Louise continued. 'When I was born, our mother died in child birth. Although Rozen tried to be fair between us, it was obvious Alice was the favourite. I think Rozen may have believed that I had killed his wife. We lived happily for a while until Alice caught a life threatening disease and she died.'

Louise began playing with the ribbon that tied Suigintou's choker.

'After that Rozen was upset. He became severely depressed, and began to neglect me. That was when he began making dolls like you. He had always made porcelain dolls for Alice, because she liked them. But, he never finished any of them, and they always ended up on the scrap heap.

I lived in the house all on my own, because Rozen never left his workshop. One day, he actually came out. He cuddled me, and told me to wait for him there. So I did. I waited and waited. But he never came back. I was already quite skinny, because I couldn't feed myself. So, there in the hall in front of the workshop was where I died.'

Louise suddenly pulled on the ribbon ribbon she had been playing with, and it came undone. She cuddled Suigintou and nuzzled at her back.

'As a spirit, I was angry. He had promised that he would come back and he hadn't! So that anger spurred me to take control of the most recent doll he had scrapped and get back at him. That doll was you.'

Louise rested her arms on Suigintou's shoulders an started playing with her hair again.

'You had the potential for life, so I called you awake. You loved Rozen more then I possibly could have. I used that love to my advantage. When someone teased you I would send you into a rage. When someone hurt you, you would try to kill them, when some one talked to you, you would snap at them.

Eventually after pushing you a bit, it was engraved into your subconscious. You didn't need a Rosa Mystica because you already had my soul to power off. But, when you received a Rosa Mystica, you began to feed off the Rosa Mystica's power, so my soul could take it's rest.

I wanted you to become Alice, so that once you did, I could take over you and get my revenge on Rozen.'

Louise removed her hand from Suigintou's mouth. 'I'm done.'

Suigintou was still in shock. 'This girl is Father's actual daughter! His human daughter!'

Suigintou broke away from Louise and stared at her. 'Why have you been taunting me recently?'

Louise shrugged. 'Every now and then, you needed a reminder that I existed. I have missed you. Back when you were poor and innocent, you used to visit me a lot. Now you don't even remember who I was…'

Louise pulled Suigintou into a tight hug. Suigintou didn't know whether to return the embrace, or to pull away, so she simply let Louise hug her.

Louise suddenly pulled away. 'Now you have to uphold your end of the deal.'

'What do I need to do?' Suigintou asked.

'I want to kill Rozen. I want you to let me do it!' Louise said confidently.

'Why would you kill Father?' Suigintou replied. 'Can't you do it yourself?'

'I have explained to you before why I want to kill Rozen! He neglected me!' Louise yelled. 'I can't do it myself, because you are always in control of your body now. You have to let me have control, if I want to kill him.'

'But I don't know where he is! How can you kill him if you don't know where he is?' Suigintou replied.

'I'll give you tomorrow to think about it!' Louise said slowly fading away.

'But I've already said no!' Suigintou argued.

Louise had almost faded into nothing. Before she disappeared, she said 'You never know…A lot of things can happen in one day.'

'W…Wait…'Suigintou reached out into the blank space where Louise was.

Suigintou began to feel very tired. She wrapped the bedsheets around herself, and tried to get some sleep.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

I'm sorry that this chapter took a while! I had to think a bit about how to handle things after last chapter's battle. The next chapter should be a lot faster, since a lot of writing I did for this chapter, I decided to move to the next chapter and end this chapter where I did.

And according to my plan, there are only a few more chapters and it'll be all over! What shall I do then? Oh well, I will deal with that when it comes.


	19. Our Gathering

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, the 'Master' and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 19**

Rikou woke up early the next morning when he felt something slap his cheek.

'Suigintou, what did I do now…?' He asked sleepily.

Rikou opened his eyes, and to his confusion, saw that Suigintou was lying next to him fast asleep. He looked around the room further and standing in front of the bed was the culprit.

'Ugh, it's Suigintou's sister.' Rikou said hazily. 'What do you want?'

'Are you aware that it is 6am in the morning?' Shinku asked.

Rikou looked over at the clock that read '6:09am'.

'Yeah.' Rikou replied. 'What about it?'

'You should be awake by now!' Shinku said confidently.

'Why? It's Sunday, so I can sleep in.' Rikou argued.

Shinku whipped him with her hair for the second time that morning. 'Tea in the morning is always prepared at 6am. Hurry up, you are nine minutes late! Why does Suigintou not discipline you about these sorts of things?'

'Well, she doesn't usually wake up until around 10…'

'Don't argue!' Shinku whipped him. 'You have tea to prepare!'

'Fine, I'm going, I'm going!' Rikou got out of bed, being careful not to wake Suigintou. He knew from experience that Suigintou could get in a very foul mood if she was woken up against her will.

Rikou went to the kitchen and began preparing Shinku's tea. Shinku sat on the couch in front of the coffee table and waited for her tea.

Rikou brought her the tea that she wanted a few minutes later. Shinku took one sip and instantly made a face.

'Rikou, this tea is too cold, make it again!'

Rikou sighed, and went back to make Shinku some hotter tea. When Rikou brought the tea to Shinku, she made another face.

'Rikou, the ratio of water and milk is not right. Do it again!'

For Rikou, that was how the morning slowly progressed. At 8:00, he presented Shinku with her eighteenth round of tea.

'Rikou…'

'Yep, I've already started making another one.' Rikou jumped in before she could finish her sentence.

'I was going to say how good this lot of tea is.' Shinku took a sip. 'You learn well.'

'Thank goodness that's over.' Rikou said, not realising that his morning problems were far from over.

'Rikou!'

Rikou turned to see his worst nightmare standing in the kitchen doorway. Suigintou was up, and she did not look happy.

'H…Hi, Suigintou!' Rikou said nervously. 'What's gotten you up so early?'

'I was woken up by the racket that you two were making!' Suigintou said angrily. 'I could hear the whole thing from your room!'

'What?' Rikou asked. They weren't being that loud where they?

'All I could hear for the past hour and a half was 'Rikou, this tea is this, this tea is that'!' Suigintou yelled. 'And your complaints about making it all over again!'

'Well, you weren't the one dragged out of bed at 6am in the morning to make tea, were you?' Rikou rebutted.

'If you didn't want to do it, then why did you do it?' Suigintou argued back.

'She would have whipped me with her hair if I hadn't!' Rikou yelled, pointing at Shinku, who was calmly sipping her tea in silence.

'Stop being such a baby!' Suigintou shouted at him. 'No wonder you were the target for the evil dolls' kidnap plan! You're so stupid and defenceless!'

'Well, at least I don't have mental breakdowns once in every three days!' Rikou yelled. 'You keep sooking about things that don't matter, like your name! What would be so offensive about that?'

'The hell you would know!' Suigintou screamed, not bothering to stop the tears falling from her eyes.

Suigintou began sobbing. Rikou watched in shock as Suigintou buried her heads in her hands and continued to cry.

'…Suigintou.' Rikou reached out to touch Suigintou.

'DON'T TOUCH ME!' Suigintou slapped his hand away from her.

'You know what I think you need? Some time to yourself!' Mirien announced her presence in the kitchen.

Mirien scooped up Suigintou and proceeded to carry her out the room. Before she left, she stopped and pointed at Shinku.

'There's another living doll in this house. Rikou, tell me where it came from?' Mirien asked, with suspicion.

'Well, actually there's two. The other one is sleeping in her case in my room…' Rikou said nervously.

'How long are they staying here for?' Mirien asked.

'Not long. Only a couple of days. I promise, they'll be gone by the end of the week coming.' Rikou said.

'They better be, before I deal with them myself.' Mirien muttered as she left the room.

Mirien cradled Suigintou, as she wandered down the hallway.

'Suigintou? Do you want a bath or a shower or something? That can help sometimes…' Mirien asked.

Suigintou nodded, and Mirien showed her to a room with a bath, a shower and a large mirror. Most of the room was white, with the exception of the mirror and the light-grey tiles on the floor.

'I'll leave you then.' Mirien left the room and shutting the door, leaving Suigintou to herself.

Almost immediately afterwards, Louise's form appeared in front of Suigintou and sat down in front of Suigintou. She was wearing her normal attire, and her face revealed concern.

'You had a fight with your medium?'

Suigintou nodded. Louise leaned forward, and cuddled Suigintou, who had began to whimper.

'If what he said to you really hurt you, I can kill him if you like.' Louise said thoughtfully.

'No…I d…don't think that's necessary.' Suigintou muttered.

'Are you still going to see the twins?' Louise asked.

'Yes, I might as well.' Suigintou mumbled, wiping away her tears as she began to undo the ribbon around her choker.

Louise took that as her cue to leave and began to fade away.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou exited the bathroom after she had showered, and calmed herself down. Her hair was slightly wet from her shower, but had been brushed into its normal style. She was wearing her normal dress, without her shoes, which she always took off when she slept with Rikou.

'Do you feel any better?' Lyn asked when Suigintou noticed her in the hallway.

'You know about what happened?' Suigintou did not remember Lyn being present when she had argued with her medium.

'I could hear the two of you arguing, even in my case down the hall.' Lyn replied.

'I see...' Suigintou sighed.

'Remember, you're supposed to go to the twin's house with Shinku.' Lyn said. 'She really wants to see them again, and she's been waiting for you since she finished her tea.'

'I know where I'll be going.' She muttered, as she walked past Lyn. 'Has she really been waiting for me that long?'

Suigintou walked into Rikou's room and found Shinku waiting for her, just like Lyn had said she would be.

'We better be going soon. I would like to spend as much time as possible with my sisters.' Shinku stated.

'I know. I also need to discuss the events that have happened over the past few days.' Suigintou told Shinku. 'Though, in that household, only Souseseki is ever interested in things like that, the rest only care about crayons and food and child's things…'

Shinku prepared her case for the flight, as Suigintou watched from where she stood near the bed.

'I'm sorry…about what happened this morning between you and your medium. I didn't mean to cause something like that.' Shinku said sadly.

'It doesn't matter that much.' Suigintou shrugged. 'My medium is stupid. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.'

'Still, I am sorry for causing the whole incident before…'

'ARE WE GOING OR NOT?' Suigintou snapped, turning to give an evil glare at Shinku.

There were a few moments of awkward silence, before Shinku sat in her case, and made it hover above the floor. 'I guess we are then.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'This is the sky.' Joenna instructed her new sister, as she pointed at the sky in the picture book she was reading. 'Sky!'

'This is the sky.' Joenna's sister replied.

'Very good Sherry! You learn fas…'

'This is a tree.' Joenna's sister Sherry continued, pointing at the said object in the picture. 'This is a car. This is the grass. This is a plant. This is a flower. This is a bird. This is a cloud.'

'WOW!' Joenna glomped on Sherry. 'YOU'RE. SO. CUUUUUUTE! Where did you learn all that?'

'Souseseki taught me yesterday.' Sherry replied. 'I want to read books.'

'Hooray!' Joenna exclaimed. 'Now you have a goal in life, you can work hard at it and do your best!'

'Yes, sister.' Sherry said dully, continuing with her picture book by turning the page.

Suiseseki snickered as she looked over at the two dolls from her corner of the room. Suiseseki had found one of Rina's old maths textbooks and was eagerly reading it to find out what would happen to X.

'They're so funny desu!' Suiseseki whispered to herself. 'Joenna is more immature, although Sherry is younger desu!'

'Isn't that like you and me?' Souseseki asked, as she walked over to Suiseseki. 'You are older than me, and you're not the most mature either. That could also be said about Kanaria and Shinku, or Hina Ichigo and Kirakishou. Our age or creation order doesn't affect our maturity.'

'I know, I know desu!' Suiseseki said, wanting to get back to reading about X. 'But, it's just so funny watching them desu!'

Souseseki took a glimpse at what Suiseseki was reading. 'Advanced Mathematics for Year 11? Do you even understand any of that?'

'I've been following X's adventures since he appeared in the 'Mathematics for Year 8' text guide, so of course I know what he's been doing desu!' Suiseseki replied.

'Suit yourself…' Souseseki sighed.

Suddenly, a brown suitcase smashed into Rina's window, and landed in the middle of the floor. The lid of the case opened, revealing the occupant.

'S…Shinku?' Suiseseki stuttered, before dropping her book, and running to hug her sister. 'Shinku! Where have you been all this time desu?'

'See? I told you Shinku was alive!' Joenna yelled triumphantly.

Suiseseki broke her embrace with Shinku, and began fixing the window using her ring's power.

'It's nice to see you, Shinku.' Souseseki said. 'What have you been doing all this time?'

Shinku briefly went through the details of her life in the mansion with Lyn, and the short period of time she had stayed with Suigintou and her medium.

'I see.' Souseseki stated. 'You do know about Joenna and her sister over there?'

'Yes, I met them during the battle at the mansion. They are Enju's children, correct?'

Souseseki nodded.

Shinku turned and saw Joenna's sister reading a picture book about a puppy. She had her lavender hair pulled up into a ponytail with a thick scrunchie. She wore a dark purple singlet with floral trim, and a fancy indigo jacket overtop. She wore a pair of grey, doll-sized track pants, and dark purple rose sandals.

'Do you have a name?' Shinku asked.

'Yes. It's Sherry.' Sherry replied, staring up at Shinku.

'Where did you get your clothes from?'

'Rina found them for me.'

'Isn't she sooooo CUTE!' Joenna exclaimed cuddling her sister again.

'Sister, I believe you should stop doing that.' Sherry said in an attempt to get Joenna off of herself, but Joenna wasn't listening.

The group of dolls heard a knock at the window, and saw a less than amused Suigintou standing outside the window that Suiseseki had fixed only a few moments ago.

'Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten that Suigintou was with me.' Shinku said. 'Can this window be opened?'

Rina's bedroom window was opened, and Suigintou was let inside.

'Why did you leave me? I thought we were supposed to be travelling together?' Suigintou snapped at Shinku.

'You were going too slow.' Shinku stated. 'The speed is hard to control with cases.'

'You should have told me that earlier!' Suigintou yelled.

'I thought you already knew! You have a case don't you?'

'They always argue…' Souseseki said with a sigh, turning to stare at Suiseseki.

'Oh…Oh right!' Suiseseki got the silent message her twin was trying to convey. 'Suigintou, come make some tea with me desu! I hear your tea is very nice desu!

'Wait…When…' Suigintou was dragged out the room by a very determined Suiseseki, leaving Souseseki, Shinku, Joenna and Sherry in the room.

'Shinku, did something happen to Suigintou?' Souseseki asked. 'Her temper is worse than usual…'

'She had a fight with her medium this morning.' Shinku replied. 'Although she won't admit it, I think they've become very close. They even sleep together.'

'Oh…Oh really…' Souseseki said in confusion.

'I believe she also wanted to talk to you about the battle events. Apparently, the rest of this household isn't that interested.'

'Well, if it involved this 'X' Suiseseki would happily listen to anyone talk.' Souseseki laughed. 'Simply, I don't think battles and Alice Games matter much to them.'

'We're back desu!' Suiseseki announced, dragging Suigintou into the room. 'And we bring tea!'

'What was the point of that?' Suigintou asked.

'Just sit down and enjoy the tea being offered.' Shinku said. 'Joenna, Sherry, would you like some tea?'

'YES PLEASE!'

'Yes.'

The six dolls sat around Rina's coffee table, and chatted over tea. Suigintou got her chance to explain to the dolls what had actually happened during the battle, and was only interrupted when Joenna spilt some of her tea. Shinku did some explaining herself, of what had happened in the last era, and some of the dreams she had had with Suigintou and the figure in them.'

'So, all we need to figure out now, is what the black figure was.' Souseseki said in thought. 'Do you have any idea, Suigintou?'

'Not a clue.' Suigintou lied.

'Can I have some more tea?' Sherry asked.

'You can.' Suigintou leaned over to grasp the teapot, but instead she felt a disturbance deep within her.

She began shaking, and her breathing became rapid. Suigintou began to glow a faint white. A few crystalline tears ran down her cheeks.

'Suigintou!' Shinku yelled, but she was fixed the the spot. No matter how much she wanted to move, she found she couldn't.

Suigintou glowed an even brighter white, and began gasping for air. Her hair floated gently around her, and her eyes slowly turned blank.

Suddenly, a white light shot out of her back.

'Suigintou!' Shinku yelled, suddenly realising she could now move.

Shinku ran around the table, and caught Suigintou as she fainted. The glowing slowly faded, but Shinku continued to shake Suigintou in an attempt to wake her.

Shinku turned back to the table, and saw that the four dolls sitting there were all gazing at an area behind her.

She looked back, and saw the person she least expected to see emerge from the white light.

'Father?'

'_I see you still remember me.'_

Shinku became as shocked as the four at the table. Her Father was here, and he was talking to them. Almost all of them.

'What happened to Suigintou?' Shinku asked.

'_I used her as a means to enter this world. She knows what is going on, but she is too exhausted to react. This is the first time the four of you have gathered at once.'_

'Father…Why did you come here?' Shinku asked.

'_Put simply…I want to use your Rosa Mystica's to heal Alice.'_

'Why desu?' Suiseseki asked, snapping out of the shock of seeing Rozen.

'_Kirakishou, your youngest sister, became Alice by winning the Alice Game. But, even as Alice, she seemed…upset over something. We lived peacefully for a while, but one day not too long ago, there was a rip in the N-Field we were living in. The four most powerful Rosa Mystica's she had, other than her own, saw the means to escape using the rip, and therefore awakening you. But Alice has become very sick, and the only way to make her better is to take the Rosa Mystica's back.'_

'You can't force us to give up our Rosa Mystica's!' Suiseseki yelled.

Shinku sighed sadly. 'Even if we wanted to, now that we are alive, no human can extract the Rosa Mystica from us, against our will.'

'_Kirakishou is very ill, and it could be fatal. If you let her die, the Rosa Mystica's she takes with her will become lifeless too.'_

'Hina Ichigo and Kanaria…' Souseseki said.

'_That is correct. You have a choice. You can give up your Rosa Mystica's to save the three, or you can keep them and let them die.'_

'You can't do that desu!' Suiseseki replied angrily. 'Why aren't you all defending me? You agree too don't you desu?'

Both Shinku and Souseseki didn't reply. They both looked at the ground ahead of them, and Shinku cuddled Suigintou closer to her.

'I will give you three days to decide. I will be here in this room on the third day, you can tell me your decision then.'

Rozen held out a rose. _'If you need to contact me before then, pull a petal off this rose.'_

Shinku reached up and took the rose from him.

'_Suigintou, wake up!'_ Rozen clapped his hands and Suigintou's eyes shot open, and she sat up.

'Father, isn't there any other way?' Suigintou asked. 'Why are you making this happen?'

'_The only way to heal Alice is to give her back the Rosa Mystica she has lost.'_

'Alice is Kirakishou, right?' Suigintou asked.

'_Yes, you already know that, you heard my conversation with the rest.'_

'C…can we see her?' Suigintou looked down at her shaking hands.

'Suigintou! She's a monster, why on earth do you want to see her?' Souseseki yelled.

'_I can grant you that favour.' _

A set of golden gates appeared in the room, next to Rozen.

'_Go through this portal, that will take you to Kirakishou. But, you can only enter and exit once. So think wisely before you do. I will be seeing you here in three days.' _

Rozen began to fade away, and within a few seconds he was gone.

The six dolls were silent, and the only sound came from Sherry stirring her tea with a spoon. She put her spoon down and stood up.

'I am going to leave now, and you should too, Joenna.' Sherry stated. 'This is your decision to make, not ours.'

'That's fine with me.' Joenna said quietly, standing up to leave. Joenna had been feeling quite awkward with the Rozen Maiden's since Rozen's appearance. Joenna and Sherry left the room, closing the door behind them.

'What do we do desu?' Suiseseki asked sadly.

'I…I don't know.' Shinku muttered.

'Maybe we should talk about this later…' Suigintou said.

'Later? We don't HAVE a later desu!' Suiseseki said angrily. 'We only have three DAYS left desu!'

'Unless we decide not to take up Father's offer…' Suigintou said dully.

'Suigintou! How could you even consider that?' Souseseki said, in shock. 'Our two sisters' existences are in jeopardy!'

'So what?' Suigintou snapped. 'Hina Ichigo and Kanaria were just spoilt brats, who were used to being tended to by the likes of you! And Kirakishou? She deserves to die for what she did!'

'We would do the same for you…' Shinku mumbled.

'You would not have!' Suigintou argued. 'If I hadn't met me in this era, you wouldn't even give a damn about me!'

'Suigintou!' Souseseki yelled. 'We can't afford to be arguing, and making personal decisions about this! We need to decide as a group what we're going to do!'

'I think we should visit Kirakishou first, before we decide anything.' Shinku suggested. 'There was no point summoning the gates, if there was no reason to use them. Kirakishou is weak, and she won't be able to hurt us.'

Suigintou looked away from the group. 'Fine.'

'That sounds good to me.' Souseseki agreed.

'I suppose I should go with you desu.' Suiseseki sighed.

The four dolls stood and approached the gates. Shinku gently pulled the handles outward. The four were blinded by a white light, as they entered Alice's domain.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

As you can read, the end is drawing ever closer, and the plot is slowly revealing itself. If I follow my plans, there will be two more chapters and an epilogue. I may add another chapter, depending on whether I have enough material, but I highly doubt it. So, keep your eye out, the end is very close!


	20. Visit

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, Louise and the personality of Joenna.

**Chapter 20**

Alice's dream world was grand and spectacular, the Rozen Maiden's realised as they walked down a path that lead to a building. The Victorian-era styled house up ahead was magnificent, and the garden was beautiful to behold.

As the other Rozen Maiden's went ahead of her, Souseseki stopped to look at the hedge of rose bushes that trailed along the path. As she looked at the flowers, she realised all of the roses had withered.

Souseseki shuddered, as she turned and tried to catch up with the rest of the group.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou walked through the to the house, that she was sure Kirakishou was being kept. in As she walked briskly towards the main hall, she could hear the frustration of the rest of the group, who wanted her to slow down.

When they finally reached what looked like a bedroom, Suigintou paused, before opening the curtain door. Everything in the room was white, including the sole occupant, who rested on a bed near the corner of the room.

'Kirakishou…' Suigintou seethed.

Shinku, Suiseseki and Souseseki stumbled into the room shortly afterwards.

'Kirakishou!' Suiseseki yelled. 'I want a word with you desu!'

'Suiseseki!' Shinku said, shocked at Suiseseki's action.

'Ugh…' Kirakishou began to wake up. Her left eye immediately focused on the figure in the centre of the room.

'ONEE-SAMA!' Kirakishou yelled. 'You're alive! You're okay! You're here!'

Suigintou was shocked by Kirakishou's reaction.

'Kirakishou, we have some things we would like to discuss with you.' Souseseki explained.

'Onee-sama? You want to talk with me?' Kirakishou looked at Suigintou.

'Suigintou isn't the only one here desu!' Suiseseki pouted. 'Are you even aware of our presence desu?'

'Onee-sama is the most important.' Kirakishou stated.

'Why desu?'

'I watched her from my N-Field, as she grew, as she changed from a weak, innocent doll, into one of the most powerful.' Kirakishou explained.

'You've been watching me for how long?' Suigintou asked.

'Long enough to know everything.' Kirakishou replied. 'Even your name's real origin.'

Suigintou's eyes widened. 'You know?'

'Yes, I know.'

'What's this about names desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Nothing.' Suigintou quickly replied.

'So, Onee-sama, what did you want to talk to me about?' Kirakishou smiled at her.

'I'm not in an explaining mood at the moment.' Suigintou sighed. 'Let Souseseki do it, she seems eager.'

'If Onee-sama says so, I will listen to Souseseki.' Kirakishou turned to Souseseki.

'Well…' Souseseki began. 'Have you been feeling…weak lately?'

'Kind of.' Kirakishou answered.

'What do you mean by 'Kind of'?' Souseseki asked.

'For a couple of weeks, I was really weak. But I feel much better, now that I've seen my Onee-sama!' Kirakishou exclaimed.

'Father told us that a few weeks ago, there was a rip in the N-Field and our Rosa Mysticas escaped.' Souseseki continued. 'Are you aware of that?'

'Yes.' Kirakishou chirped. 'In fact, I just let it happen!'

'Why?' Shinku asked.

'Well, after I killed Shinku and became Alice, I became upset because my Onee-sama was dead.' Kirakishou explained. 'So when I felt the Rosa Mystica try to leave, I didn't stop them because I thought that Onee-sama might come back. And look!'

Kirakishou emphasised her point by grabbing Suigintou's arm and raising it in the air. 'Here she is!'

'Someone's a bit obsessed desu.' Suiseseki rolled her eyes.

'Kirakishou…Did father tell you what he's going to do to us?' Suigintou asked.

'No, he hasn't mentioned any of you at all.' Kirakishou thought aloud. 'Maybe he does not know Onee-sama exists!'

Suigintou grabbed Kirakishou's shoulders and forcefully turned her.

'Father…Is going to destroy us.' Suigintou said angrily. 'For your sake.'

'Father is going to destroy Onee-sama…for me?' Kirakishou repeated. 'Can it be the other way around?'

'No, it can't.' Suigintou replied.

'Why not?'

'Because you're Alice, and he wants' to recover you to full strength.' Suigintou explained. 'And to do so he needs our Rosa Mystica.'

'No! I'll be sick forever!' Kirakishou yelled, pulling out of Suigintou's grip. 'Father can't make me take them back! If Onee-sama is gone, I'll be even more depressed than ever! Father will not like that, will he?'

'I don't know…' Suigintou stuttered.

'I did everything for Onee-sama! And Shinku killed her! She ruined everything.' Kirakishou yelled.

'By 'everything' I assume you mean that you killed Suiseseki and Kanaria, and then you set Suigintou and Shinku up, hoping that Suigintou would defeat Shinku.' Souseseki stated.

'Yep!' Kirakishou said boastfully. 'But I also killed someone in some hospital after she insulted Onee-sama.'

'MEGU!' Suigintou yelled, grabbing the front of Kirakishou's shirt, and pulling her towards herself. 'You were the one who killed Megu?'

'I guess that does make sense, since Kirakishou has vine attacks…' Shinku thought aloud.

'I did kill the girl in the hospital. But she insulted you! She upset you!' Kirakishou argued.

'She didn't upset me, she just reminded me of something bad and I over reacted!' Suigintou argued back. 'Anyway, you shouldn't go around killing people for my sake, if they've done nothing to me! Why didn't you introduce yourself and ask me who you could and couldn't kill?'

'At the time I only existed in the N-Field, I could not materialise in the real world!' Kirakishou explained. 'I only could meet you when you came to my N-Field.'

'That N-field where Enju was, is yours desu?' Suiseseki asked.

'Yep, it is!' Kirakishou answered. 'After that fake battle, you left your mess everywhere! I was going to kill those fake people, but I was too busy watching Onee-sama fighting… And then they just vanished.'

'Enju is dead now.' Suigintou mumbled. 'I killed him.'

'YOU killed him desu?' Suiseseki said in shock. 'I thought he died when you expelled all your power.'

'I was being controlled by the tipped balance, and…' Suigintou remembered Louise. 'Another force.'

'Another force?' Shinku asked.

'I don't know what it was, but I could feel it.' Suigintou lied.

There was a silence between the five of them, before Souseseki spoke up

'So, what are we going to do?' She asked. 'We are going to get destroyed, and there isn't really anything we can do about it.'

'I won't allow it!' Kirakishou yelled. 'I won't let my Onee-sama die for me! It won't happen. I won't allow it!'

Once Kirakishou had said that, the room was quiet.

'There isn't anything left to talk about that hasn't already been said.' Suigintou said. 'I'm leaving.'

Suigintou turned and headed out the door, followed shortly afterwards by the other three. Shinku, who had been the last to leave, only just caught sight of Kirakishou's frustrated facial expression.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'Are you sure that there's nothing you can do about it?' Rina asked the four Rozen Maiden's who were sitting at the kitchen table with Joenna and Sherry.

The four Rozen Maiden's had returned from Rozen's N-Field only minutes ago, and had explained their current situation to Rina, and had told the two other dolls the new information that they had learnt.

'As far as we know, there is nothing we can do.' Souseseki said dully. 'It seems that even Kirakishou couldn't do anything for us either.'

'I'm sure that she would if Suigintou was involved desu.' Suiseseki giggled.

'When Rozen was speaking to you, he seemed like a scary person!' Joenna shuddered.

'What I don't understand is; Why does he want to destroy you, when the person he wants to do it for, doesn't want your destruction? Isn't that a clash of interests?' Sherry said.

'Rozen didn't tell Kirakishou about what he intended to do.' Shinku replied. 'Kirakishou was quite…surprised when we told her.'

'I see…' Sherry sighed.

'I think Shinku and I should go back to Idiot's apartment for now.' Suigintou said.

'We haven't thought of anything else.' Shinku agreed. 'If you think of anything, please contact us.'

'Okay desu!' Suiseseki yelled, as Suigintou and Shinku went upstairs to collect Shinku's case. 'Have a safe trip back desu!'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Rikou was finishing up his homework at his desk on that Sunday, when he heard something tap on his window.

'I wonder what that is…' Rikou turned and saw Suigintou tapping on the window.

Rikou walked over and opened it, allowing her to come inside.

'Please duck.' Suigintou asked, as she floated onto the end of the bed.

'Wha…?' Was the only thing that Rikou had time to say, before Suigintou pulled him down to her height, and he felt something whiz over the top of his back.

'Why don't you ever listen?' Suigintou sighed, releasing him from her grip.

Rikou stood up, and saw Shinku step out of her case on the other side of the room.

'Wow…You missed the window…' Rikou murmured.

'Well, it was open this time, and I do have better navigation of my suitcase then the twins seem to.' Shinku replied.

Rikou looked up at the clock. 'Do you want me to make you two some dinner? Mirien will probably have some soon, and I might as well make some for you…'

'That, and tea.' Shinku demanded. 'Please remember how I taught you to make it this morning.'

'Yes, yes.' Rikou turned to Suigintou. 'Would you like anything extra while I'm at it?'

'No, I'm fine.' Suigintou said. 'Just fine.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

After dinner, the apartment was surprisingly quiet. Shinku and Suigintou had explained to Mirien, Rikou and Lyn what had happened during the day, and as Suigintou entered Rikou's room in order to rest for the night, she pondered on whether that was the reason for the silence.

'It looks like Rikou is still doing something in the kitchen. I may have some time to myself for a while…'

Suigintou sat on his bed and removed her shoes. She moved on his bed over to the wall and curled up in a ball against it.

'What should we do about Father's decision I wonder…' Suigintou rested her head against the wall.

'While you're sitting around being gloomy about Rozen's big offer, have you thought about mine yet?' Louise materialized in front of her.

'The one you posed yesterday?' Suigintou remembered that Louise had insisted that she take over Suigintou's body in order to kill Rozen.

'Well, now you have a reason to hate him, so I was wondering whether you'd changed your mind yet.' Louise purred, leaning forward and cuddling Suigintou. 'I told you, a lot can change in a day…'

'Did you know?' Suigintou pulled away from Louise.

'Of course I knew. I know my father better than anyone else does.' Louise crawled back over to Suigintou, and began cuddling her again. 'He would do something like this.'

'Louise, do you know what I should do?' Suigintou asked.

'Well, you can let me kill him, and all your problems will be solved.' Louise replied, as she began playing with Suigintou's hair.

'No, I mean…' Suigintou began. 'I really don't care too much about Hina Ichigo's or Kanaria's Rosa Mystica, but my other sisters will be mad at me if I decide on my own to give them up.'

'Well, I can take control of you, reject the offer, and then you can blame it all on me!' Louise tightened her embrace on Suigintou.

'Louise, that's cheating.'

'So? You've cheated before. I say that if I kill Rozen, all of your problems will be solved!' Louise giggled, as she began untying the ribbon in Suigintou's choker.

'I'll let you think about it some more.' Louise leaned over and kissed Suigintou on the cheek.

'Wait!' Suigintou watched Louise disappear.

She soon discovered why Louise had disappeared. Rikou had just entered the room, and she knew Louise did not like to be seen by others.

'Oh, you're here.' Rikou said. 'I heard you talking to yourself.'

Suigintou sighed. 'Where are Shinku and Lyn?'

'Lyn has gone somewhere.' Rikou looked up at the ceiling. 'And Shinku is in the kitchen with Mirien.'

'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Suigintou asked. 'Mirien doesn't like living dolls…'

'Shinku is teaching her how to make tea, because I was in the shower and she did not know how to make it 'perfect'.' Rikou replied. 'For some reason, Mirien wants to learn…'

'There are some things with humans I will never understand…' Suigintou said, staring out the window at the dark night sky.

Rikou sat down beside her on the bed and tried to see what she was looking at, but he could not see anything.

'Does your father really have to destroy you?' He asked her.

'If he wants to, then he can.' Suigintou replied.

'Why do you so willingly do whatever he says?' Rikou asked. 'That's not normally like you!'

'As Rozen Maiden's, we treasure our father…' Suigintou began.

'Even though you know that he really doesn't care about you at all?' Rikou interrupted.

'It's etched into our subconscious.' Suigintou continued. 'That's just how it is.'

'So, two days from now, you won't exist anymore…' Rikou said.

'…Yeah.' Suigintou answered. 'I guess I will cease to exist after then.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

I am very sorry for not updating this sooner, but I had exams and then three trips in a row. Anyway, there is one chapter and an epilogue after this one


	21. Ending

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, Louise and the personality of Joenna.

A/N: Just so you don't get confused, this isn't the last chapter. There's still one left to go

**Chapter 21**

The next day came and went without any unusual happenings. Suigintou and Shinku had visited Rina's household, but came back with still no solution to the current situation that the Rozen Maiden's had found themselves in. Rikou and Mirien had been at school, and Lyn had been noticeably absent during the day.

Suigintou had woken up early that Tuesday morning, and found Louise sitting in front of her.

'So, today's the big day, is it?' Louise asked, ignoring Rikou who was lying next to Suigintou still asleep, and pulling Suigintou into a hug.

'I suppose you could put it like that...' Suigintou answered.

'Are you sure, sure you don't want me to kill Rozen?' Louise asked. 'That is what he deserves after everything that's happened to you, your sisters and myself.'

'Yes, I'm sure that killing him is quite unnecessary.' Suigintou replied.

'But why?' Louise asked. 'He's done so much to hurt you...'

'Because firstly, he's my father...' Suigintou began.

'He's my father as well!' Louise pointed out.

'That's true, but you don't really see him as that, do you?' Suigintou said.

'Even if I did see him as my father, and call him father, and do other things like that, he's still the man who let me die, and no matter what position he may have held in my previous life, I would still want him to suffer for what he has done.' Louise argued.

'And secondly...' Suigintou continued. 'I respect his decision to keep Alice as she is.'

'Why? Isn't it wrong to sacrifice others for what you want?' Louise argued.

'That's what you're trying to do, isn't it?' Suigintou argued back.

'But he deserves it!' Louise said.

'Look…' Suigintou sighed. 'I'm not in the mood for arguing over my father's fate today. We've had this discussion before.'

'Well, if you ever want to change your mind…' Louise looked disappointed, as she faded away.

Suigintou sighed, and lay back down on the bed.

'So, this is how my last day of existence begins…' Suigintou said to herself.

Suigintou stood up on the bed, and jumped over Rikou, who was still sleeping. As she sat back down on the edge of the bed, she heard the door click open.

'Oh, I see you're awake.' Lyn said as she closed the door and sat on Rikou's desk chair.

'I think that's pretty obvious.' Suigintou said.

'You're not in a good mood today.'

'How would you feel if your creator wanted you destroyed?'

Lyn shrugged. 'Don't know. I've never been in that situation before.'

'Be grateful you haven't.'

'Are you sure you're going to be destroyed today?' Lyn asked.

'This was the decided date.' Suigintou sighed.

'But didn't you have the choice of not being destroyed?'

'Yes, and I would have chosen that option if my sisters hadn't wanted to protect the other dolls who had no chance of existing anyway. There are some things about my sisters I will probably never understand.' Suigintou said.

'You seem to have an odd relationship with your sisters.' Lyn commented.

'Until recently, I couldn't even claim to have a decent relationship with my sisters, so I guess things have gotten better since then.' Suigintou jumped off the bed, and stared at the open case on the ground. 'Is Shinku already awake?'

'Yes, I have just made tea for her.' Lyn replied.

'And you didn't complain?'

'No, I used to make it for her all the time when we were in captivity, so she is used to my standards. Apparently, I make good tea.' Lyn shrugged.

'Oh...I see...'

'Would you like to join her for breakfast? I think she expects you to make an appearance soon.' Lyn said.

Suigintou thought for a bit before replying with 'Yes, I think I will.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

'So, this is it.' Souseseki said sadly as the four Rozen Maidens gathered in Rina's house later that day.

'Yes. I suppose so.' Shinku sighed, as she opened her pocket watch. 'One minute to twelve.'

'You know… If anyone a hundred years go had told me that I would die by Father's hand, I would have probably destroyed them…' Suigintou thought aloud.

'We were all a bit like that desu.' Suiseseki said.

'Except, maybe Hina Ichigo. She seemed to only want to colour things in...' Souseseki giggled.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the corner of the room, and it slowly began to take the shape of an object. Soon, a figure emerged from the light, and the Rozen Maiden's saw that it was their Father.

'_Have you made a decision?' _

'Yes.' Shinku said. 'We would like to be destroyed to save Alice.'

'_That's a good answer… Who would like to go first?'_

The Rozen Maidens looked at each other.

'I'll go.' Suigintou sighed. 'Might as well get it over with…'

Suigintou stepped forward, and stood in front of Rozen. A soul catcher's scythe appeared in Rozen's hand. He raised it above Suigintou, in order to remove the Rosa Mystica from her body.

She closed her eyes and waited for death to take her.

But she did not feel anything. No pain, no soul-leaving-body sensation.

Suigintou reopened her eyes and saw Father clutching at his heart.

'What 's going on?' Suigintou thought, not daring to say a word.

Suigintou suddenly felt a tug at her own Mystica.

'Louise…What are you trying to…'

Suigintou closed her eyes and when she re-opened them, she was no longer Suigintou. Her eyes were blank, and she began to glow.

Shinku gasped. She had seen this before when Louise had taken over from the effects of the tipped balance.

'Good evening Rozen.' Louise sounded like Suigintou.

'_What is going on… Suigintou, did you have anything to do with this?'_

'Suigintou? You think I'm Suigintou?' 'Louise' began to laugh. 'I am Louise, Rozen. Remember me?'

Rozen gasped. Louise laughed in an evil manner.

'I thought you might remember me. I would have been so disappointed if you hadn't'

'_Louise…Did you force Alice to give her position? Just then?'_

Louise laughed manically. 'No, she did that on her own. With a little persuasion, I might add, but it was all her choice. See, even your Alice has seen evil in your ways…'

Rozen cringed. _'Why…?'_

'Why? I think you can answer that yourself…' Louise snapped. 'And now…you will pay.'

Louise summoned a longer version of Suigintou's sword, and scattered glowing feathers around the room. The window broke, and the wind accelerated through the room, glass going everywhere.

'You will suffer, Rozen. For me...' Louise looked over her shoulder. 'For them…'

Louise put her left hand, that was not holding her sword, over Suigintou's heart. 'And for her.'

'And now…' Louise raised her sword. 'DIE!!'

The other Rozen Maiden's were forced to close their eyes. They re-opened them, and saw Suigintou powering down, until she had stopped glowing and her eyes were back to normal.

The door to Rina's room opened, and Joenna and Sherry ran in.

'Is everything ok?' Joenna asked. 'We saw light coming from the door, and there was weird voices…' Joenna saw Suigintou and she understood what had happened.

Suigintou was leaning over Rozen's body, tears forming in her eyes.

'What was that desu?' Suiseseki asked.

There were no words spoken between the six dolls.

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

Suigintou and Shinku returned to Rikou's apartment, and found that both Rikou and Mirien had returned from school.

'That was…eventful…' Suigintou said to Shinku. Shinku nodded.

'Does Rikou have guests over?' Shinku asked.

Suigintou listened, and heard two unmistakable voices, Rikou's and Lyns, talking with someone whose voice seemed familiar.

Then, Suigintou realised who it was.

'It can't be!'

Suigintou and Shinku rushed into the kitchen and found Rikou, Lyn and Kirakishou chatting over tea.

'Whe…when?' Suigintou stuttered.

'ONEE-SAMA!!' Kirakishou leaped onto Suigintou.

'Kirakishou what are you doing here?' Suigintou asked.

'Let me explain…' Lyn began. 'When I heard that you and Shinku were going to get destroyed by your Father, I asked Louise to open the Alice's N-Field and convince Kirakishou to give up her position, thus meaning you didn't need to give up your life. I have been visiting her repeatedly since.'

'When did you know Louise?' Suigintou asked.

'I saw you talking to her once. I tried to call her, and she appeared. We had similar interests.' Lyn explained.

'I see…' Suigintou sharply inhaled. 'Kirakishou, let go! I can't breathe!'

'Sorry, Onee-sama…' Kirakishou giggled. 'I haven't seen you in so long! I get to stay with Onee-sama!'

Suigintou sighed. 'Sometimes, she reminds me of the other children…'

Shinku smiled. 'Rikou. Get me some tea.'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

It was night time, and all the occupants of Rikou's apartment were sleeping. Rikou was sleeping in his bed, and next to him lay Suigintou, who was in turn being cuddled by Kirakishou.

As the moonlight passed through the curtains, Louise appeared on the bed, over where Suigintou and Kirakishou were sleeping.

Louise reached out and brushed Suigintou's bangs from her eyes. 'I wish it didn't have to be like this. I'm sorry. You will be heading for some where better.'

Louise positioned her hand over Suigintou's forehead. 'I'll miss you…'

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

The next morning, Suigintou, Shinku, Suiseseki, Souseseki, Lyn, Joenna, Sherry and Kirakishou disappeared.

For Rikou, Mirien and Rina, their lives carried on normally.

Rikou became a well-known engineer, and his building structures are studied the world over.

Rina's songs were at the top of the charts for twenty years, before she decided to retire from singing. Many of her songs are dedicated to her parents.

Mirien became a world-famous manga writer and drawer. Her most famous manga series was about seven mythical dolls. There is currently an anime being made based on this manga.

When he turned 23, Mirien and Rikou were re-united with their parents and newborn baby sibling. Her name was Louise.


	22. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden. I do, however, own Rikou Daijima, Mirien Daijima, Anira Hanagami/ Rina A. Gamihana, Morielta, Scylla, Lyn, Louise and the personality of Joenna.

**Epilogue**

'Hey…Hey, wake up Suigintou!' A voice called, as Suigintou began to leave her sleeping state.

'We should pour some of Shinku's tea over her head desu! That'll surely get a reaction desu!'

Suigintou opened her eyes, and saw that she had fallen asleep at the table. She gazed around at the familiar world that she now resided in with all the other residents that Louise had 'disappeared' with that night.

After Louise had disappeared with them, the dolls had been transported to the world they now currently resided in. Louise had created this world especially for them to live in, since she did not have the heart to destroy them. They had also taken human form, as the world that Louise created enabled them to do so.

There was a large mansion within their world, that had an even larger garden. As they had all discovered earlier on, if they got tired of living in one place, they just moved to another. Anything that they needed would be instantly provided by an unknown force.

Suigintou stared across the table that she, Souseseki, Suiseseki, Shinku and Lyn were seated around. Kanaria and Hina Ichigo, who had been restored by both Louise and Kirakishou, were playing 'it' with Joenna. Kirakishou and Sherry were quietly observing them while trying reading a manga of some sort upside down.

'I'm sorry, I didn't have a good night last night.' Suigintou rested her head in her hands. 'Anyway, I don't seem to be the only one here sleeping at the table.'

Suigintou indicated towards Lyn, who had her head rested on the table.

'Well, she takes ages to get to sleep, so if she wants to sleep now, we should just let her.' Souseseki said.

'So, has Louise told you how Rikou is faring?' Shinku asked.

'Yes, she has, but I have been seeing him myself recently.' Suigintou replied. 'But only in his dreams.'

'I have always found it quite odd, listening to someone with a hundred years of intelligence take on the form of an eight year old.' Souseseki mused. 'I guess, she will grow eventually…'

Suigintou nodded. After Louise had finished setting up this world, she had decided that she had wanted to be re-born. So, she had put her soul into the embryo of a pregnant woman.

'I remember how surprised I was, when we found out that the pregnant woman had been Rikou's mother…' Suigintou thought to herself.

'Shiiiiiiiiinkuuuuuuuuuu…' Hina Ichigo's whiny voice cut through Suigintou's trail of thought. 'Kirakishou and Sherry stole my crayons! Please make them give the crayons back…'

'Have you asked them to share?' Shinku asked.

'We did, but Kirakishou isn't giving us the green…' Joenna said.

'There are plenty of other green crayons.'

'But we want the GREEN crayon!'

Shinku turned to Suigintou. 'Suigintou, can you please ask Kirakishou to give back the green crayon.'

'KIRA! GIVE HINA ICHIGO THE GREEN CRAYON!' Suigintou yelled in Kirakishou's general direction.

An instant later, Hina Ichigo barely dodged a green crayon that was aimed at her. It bounced, and landed on the table.

Suigintou closed her eyes. The only squabbling that ever came from the girls these days, happened when the childish ones were having difficulties with crayons, books or food.

Hina Ichigo quickly grabbed the crayon and ran over to where Kirakishou, Sherry, Joenna and Kanaria were to continue colouring in the blank sheets of paper spread out over the grass.

**The End**

o:o:o:o:o:o:o

A/N

It's finished! My very first ever fanfic is all finished! I almost can't believe it. Thank you all for reviewing over the many chapters and encouraging me to finish it! Over and out!


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